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LIBRARY 

iihcolooical    f cmittavjj, 


PRINCETON,  N.   J. 


No.  Case,    Divjsi^ 

No.  Booh-,    ^ 


JPABT    J. 

THE   CHURCH  DURING  THE   OLD 
TESTAMENT  DISPENSATION. 


THE    HISTORY 


OF   THE 


CHUECH     OF     GrOD 


DURING  THE  PERIOD  OF  REVELATION. 


BY  / 

!/ 

REV.  CHARLES  COLCOCK  JONES,  D.  D. 


"The   Lord   is  great  in  Zion." — Ps.  xcix.  2. 


NEW  YOEK: 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER  &  CO.,  654  BROADWAY. 

1867. 


Entered,  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1867, 

By  CHARLES  C.  JONES,  Jn., 

in  the  Clerk's  OflBce  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 

District  of  New  York. 


JOHN   F.  TUOW   4   CO., 

FBIKTEBB,  6TEEEOTYPER8,   AND  ELECTE0TYPEB8, 

50  QBEENE  6TEEET,   NEW  YORK. 


I^OTE. 

In  presenting  to  the  Public  the  accompanying  "  History  of  the 
Chcrcu  of  God  dukix&  the  period  of  Revelation,"  I  am  executing  a 
wish  expressed  more  than  once  by  my  honored  father  during  the  last  days 
of  his  life.  This  work  Avas  prepared  by  him  with  a  trembling  hand,  and 
amid  great  feebleness  and  physical  depression.  It  was  composed  during 
moments  of  comparative  freedom  from  pain,  in  the  quiet  of  his  own  retired 
home,  and  for  years  occupied  his  serious  thought,  careful  study,  and  pray- 
erful consideration. 

His  great  object  was  a  clear  and  succinct  exposition  of  the  true  History 
of  the  Ciiurch  of  God,  its  principles,  constitution,  ordinances,  dispensations, 
officers,  and  cardinal  doctrines  as  contained  in  that  highest  and  holiest 
record  of  all  religious  knowledge, — the  '•  Word  ot'  God."  The  Bible  was 
his  constant  companion,  his  text-book,  his  acknowledged  teacher,  his  guide, 
liis  supreme  authority. 

In  the  inscrutable  providence  of  the  Almighty  he  was  not  sjjared  fully 
to  complete  liis  labors,  and  the  accompanying  volumes  are  offered  without 
those  modifications  Avhich  his  accurate  revision  would  have  suggested  and 
accomplished. 

He  purposed  a  careful  revision  of  these  pages  for  publication ;  but  his 
rapidly  failing  health,  and  his  lamented  demise  on  the  16th  of  March,  1863, 
prevented  the  execution  of  this  cherished  plan. 

Although  I  am  well  aware,  had  the  strength  and  opportunity  been 
granted,  that  the  Author  would  probably  have  introduced  changes  in  style 
and  composition,  so  fully  convinced  am  I  that  the  cardinal  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  his  conceptions  of  truth  in  all  questions  of  vital  importance, 
and  the  full  details  of  the  authentic  History  of  the  Cliurch,  are  everywhere 
clearly,  determinately,  and  forcibly  presented,  I  have  refrained  from  any 
alteration  or  modification  of  the  MS. 

For  more  than  ten  years  my  father  was  incapacitated  by  wasting  dis- 
ease from  the  active  discharge  of  those  duties  which  had  so  long  engaged 
his  conscientious  and  devoted  attention  as  an  Evangelist,  and  as  a  Theo- 
logical teacher. 

During  this  period,  in  much  bodily  infirmity  and  amid  frequent  inter- 
ruptions, the  evening  of  his  days  was  consecrated  to  the  preparation  of  this 
History,  in  the  earnest  hope,  and  with  fervent  prayers,  that  these  his  last 
labors  iu  the  Church  miglit  be  specially  blessed  to  the  edification  of  the 
saints,  and  the  instruction  of  all  inquirers  after  truth,  and  prove,  nn^er 
God,  instrumental  in  the  further  dissemination  of  the  saving  principles  of 
Christianity. 

The  specific  objects  and  extent  of  the  work  are  briefly  explained  in  the 
Author^s  Preface. 

The  second  and  concluding  volume  will,  D.  V.,  shortly  be  issued.  It 
will  be  accompanied  by  a  General  Index. 

OHAKLES  C.  JONES,  Jk. 

New  Yoke  Citt,  April^  1867. 


^i^NCif^^ 


PEEFAOE. 


Nearly  all  the  matter  embraced  in  the  following  History — 
although  in  a  somewhat  different  and  more  extended  form,  and 
without  intci'fering  with  other  departments — was  delivered  some 
years  since  in  a  course  of  Lectures  to  the  classes  coming  under 
my  instruction  as  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History  and  Church 
Polity  in  the  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Synods  of  South  Caro- 
lina and  Georgia,  in  Columbia.  Before  the  course  was  com- 
pleted, our  dwelling  in  that  town  was  consumed  at  night  by  fire. 
We  saved  nothing  but  our  lives,  through  the  tender  mercy  of  our 
God.  The  manuscripts  of  twenty  years,  and  the  Lectures  with 
them,  then  perished.  Looking  over  the  ruins  of  the  study  the 
next  day,  I  picked  up  a  part  of  a  volume  of  John  Howe's  works. 
It  was  compact,  but  charred  to  a  coal;  and  there  lay  upon  its  face, 
distinctly  legible,  his  sermon  on  "The  Vanity  of  Man  as  Mortal !  " 

The  three  succeeding  years  I  passed  in  Philadelphia  as  Cor- 
responding Secretary  of  the  General  Assembly's  Board  of  Do- 
mestic Missions,  A  faithful  discharge  of  the  duties  of  that  office 
left  no  time  for  professional  studies.  Health  failed  under  confine- 
ment and  labor,  and  I  resigned  my  office.  Thrown  out  of  active 
and  regular  employment  in  the  ministry,  I  turned  my  thoughts  to 
a  favorite  purpose — the  recovery  of  the  History  of  the  Church, 
trusting  that  it  w^ould  please  God  to  strengthen  me  for  the  effort, 
and  render  it  of  some  benefit  to  His  people.  In  executing  this 
purpose  I  would  be  furnished  with  employment,  which  so  many 
years  of  activity  rendered  essential  to  my  happiness.  I  was  also 
comforted  with  the  hope  that  I  would  still  be  usefully  emjjloyed 
in  the  Kingdom  of  our  Lord. 

Through  the  kind  providence  of  God,  in  much  weakness,  and 
amid  many  and  sometimes  long  interruptions,  I  have  lived  to 
complete  the  first  volume.  Its  preparation  has  been  a  source  of 
constant  enjoyment.  I  have  had  God's  Holy  Word  always  open 
before  me,  and  have  sought  the  illuminating  and  sanctifying  influ- 


b  PEEFACE. 

dice  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  tliat  its  inspired  and  heavenly  pages 
might  be  full  of  wondrous  and  instructive  things  to  my  mind  and 
heart.  Aid  has  also  been  sought  from  human  helps — the  best 
authors  Avitliin  my  reach — that  I  might  be  instructed  by  them, 
and  led  to  a  better  understanding  of  the  Divine  Word,  wherein 
lay  the  History  of  that  Church  for  which  Christ  shed  His  pre- 
cious blood.  ' 

I  have  been  encouraged  by  the  favorable  opinion  expressed 
both  by  ministers  and  private  members  of  the  Church  to  whom 
the  character  of  the  work  has  been  explained.  These  last — for 
Avhom  I  have  specially  written — have  been  pleased  to  say,  that  if 
successfully  executed,  it  would  prove  such  a  Histoiy  as  would  be 
particularly  profitable  to  them.  It  would  indeed  be  doing  good 
service  to  prepare  an  acceptable  and  useful  History  of  the  Church 
for  the  mass  of  the  people  of  God  ;  and  he  who  is  enabled  to  ac- 
complish that  work  should  esteem  it  a  high  honor  graciously  con- 
ferred upon  him. 

Our  Ecclesiastical  Historians  are  read  only  to  a  very  limited 
extent  by  our  Church  members ;  consequently  but  a  few  are 
familiar  with  the  details  of  Church  History.  The  imiDortance  of 
such  knowledge  to  them  no  one  can  for  a  moment  question.  But 
it  is  looked  upon  as  a  department  above  their  line  of  reading  and 
study,  and  more  pi'operly  belonging  to  learned  Doctors  of  Divin- 
ity, and  to  accomplished  scholars.  We  may  go  further  and  say 
without  offence,  that  many  ministers,  even,  pay  but  little  attention 
to  this  great  subject.  The  venerable  Dr.  Miller,  of  Princeton, 
used  to  observe  to  our  class,  that  "  a  minister  who  was  a  good 
Church  Historian,  would  never  be  at  a  loss  for  a  Sermon  or  a 
Lecture."  When  certain  controversies  arise  in  the  Chm-ch,  for 
the  time  being  the  Historians  are  much  sought  after :  but  when 
the  battle  is  over,  the  armor  is  returned,  and  the  books  are  closed 
like  old  arsenals. 

Now  to  have  a  Church  History  for  the  families  of  the  Lord's 
people, — a  History  which  parents  and  children  can  use  intel- 
ligently and  profitably, — is  certainly  a  thing  to  be  desired.  Such 
a  History  would  serve  as  a  reference  book  in  the  family.  For  ex- 
ample: should  they  desire  to  know  when  and  how  the  Church  of 
God  originateu,  they  could  turn  to  the  History  and  find  out.  Or 
should  they  wish  information  on  various  points,  such  as,  what  are 
the  covenants  of  Works  and  of  Grace  ? — when  did  God  give  His 


PKEFACE.  7 

Church  a  visible  and  distinct  organization  ? — who  are  the  regu- 
larly constituted  members  of  that  Church  ? — is  the  Church  under 
the  Old  and  New  Dispensations  one  and  the  same? — who  is  the 
only  true  Head  of  the  Church  ? — who  are  the  officers  of  the 
Church? — has  the  Church  any  temporal  Head? — what  are  its 
Sacraments,  its  law  of  the  Sabbath,  its  law  of  marriage  ? — what 
of  type  and  shadow  passed  away  when  Christ  came,  and  what  of 
substance  remained  ? — what  is  a  miracle  ? — what  is  proiDhecy  ? — 
what  books  does  the  Church  receive  as  canonical  ? — what  are  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church  (for  what  is  a  History  of  a  Church  with- 
out its  doctrines)  ? — does  the  Church  hold  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity,  of  the  Divinity,  Humanity,  and  person  of  Christ  ? — the 
atonement,  election,  regeneration,  final  perseverance  and  eternal 
punishment  ? — in  all  these  inquiries  the  History  would  aid  thera. 
It  would  also  assist  them  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  Church 
government  and  discipline,  and  in  all  points  of  pure  history.     • 

It  would  be  presumption  to  suppose  that  every  fact  in  history, 
every  date  in  chronology,  every  place  in  geography,  every  doc- 
trine in  Theology,  every  question  in  Church  government  and 
discipline,  and  every  difficulty  of  every  kind  could  be  accurately 
and  finally  determined  in  such  a  History.  Human  imperfection 
and  weakness  forbid  the  idea.  The  literary  and  theological  world 
is  much  divided.  Opposite  views  of  the  same  subjects  are  stren- 
uously maintained  by  different  schools  and  denominations.  Since 
the  beginning  of  the  world  men  have  not  been  able  to  think  alike. 
Ordinarily,  if  men  please  their  own  party  or  creed,  it  is  as  much 
as  they  aspire  unto,  or  hope  to  attain.  I  make  no  pretensions  to 
the  production  of  so  desirable  a  History  of  the  Church,  in  this 
work ;  and  yet  it  is  my  hope  that  the  people  of  God  may,  in  the 
way  indicated,  derive  some  benefit  from  it.  My  effort  has  been 
to  give  what  I  conscientiously  believe  to  be  the  mind  and  will  of 
God  as  expressed  in  His  Holy  Word,  on  all  subjects  falling  within 
the  scope  of  the  History.  With  reference  to  the  correctness  of  our 
interpretations  and  conclusions,  every  reader  must  decide  for 
himself  He  has  the  Word  of  God  before  him,  and  we  have  had 
nothing  more.  One  important  point  will  be  gained  in  the  case  of 
those  who  difier  from  us.  They  will  see  the  Scripture  proof — 
the  "  thus  saith  the  Lord  " — relied  on  for  the  suj^i^port  of  views 
which  they  have  been  accustomed  to  reject ;  and  may  be  led  to 
examine  afresh  their  own  o])posing  views  by  the  light  of  the  Law 


o  PEEFACE. 

aud  'the  Testimony;  in  which  good  work  I  am  sure  I  will  wish 
them  most  sincerely  the  teachings  and  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  in  order  that  they  may  be  led  infallibly  to  the  truth.  Let 
me  not  utter  a  discourteous  sentiment,  or  make  an  unkind  remark 
against  any  who  hold  the  fundamental  and  saving  truths  of  God's 
Word,  and  with  whom  we  differ  in  non-essentials  only ;  but, 
Avith  the  same  breath  let  me  add,  that  it  is  not  required  of  the 
purest  charity  to  siseak  favorably  of  those  who  embrace  and  prop- 
agate soul-destroying  errors,  and  who  do  not  fellowship  with 
the  Lord  and  vv'ith  His  true  disciples. 

The  difficulty  encountered  in  preparing  the  work  has  been  to 
condense  it.  There  have  been  many  temptations  lying  all  along 
the  course,  to  introduce  collateral  matter, — to  discuss  various  in- 
cidental but  interesting  questions,  to  extend  expositions  of  Scrip- 
ture, to  explain  prophecies,  and  settle  objections,  and  relieve 
d*ubts  :  in  a  word,  the  difficulty  has  been  to  confine  the  attention 
to  the  one  subject  and  to  the  one  object,  and  to  deal  with  that, 
and  with  that  only  to  the  extent  necessary  to  its  perfect  elucida- 
tion. How  far  I  have  succeeded,  those  who  favor  the  book  with 
aTeading  must  be  the  judges.  If  they  are  disappointed  in  find- 
ing many  things  put  in,  which  they  would  desire  left  out ;  and 
many  things  left  out  which  they  would  desire  put  in,  ray  answer 
must  be,  that  I  have  follov/ed  my  best  judgment ;  aiid  in  doing 
-so,  both  in  introducing  and  in  excluding  matter,  I  have  not  always 
succeeded  in  satisfying  myself. 

It  becomes  me  to  advertise  the  reader  that  the  v^'ork  is  not 
what  is  commonly  called  "  A  Bible  History,"  nor  is  it  a  connec- 
tion of  Sacred  and  Profane  History,  nor  is  it  a  History  of  the 
Antiquities  of  the  Jews,  nor  a  History  of  that  people  as  a  nation. 
Their  History  is  necessarily  given,  but  as  the  visible  Church  of 
God.  Nor  is  it  a  work  on  Chronology,  or  Prophecy.  It  is 
strictly  what  it  purports  to  be  : — a  History  of  the  Church  of  God ; 
and  nothing  is  introduced  but  what  we  have  tliought  essential  to 
the  proper  composition  of  such  a  History. 

The  present  volume  closes  with  the  Old  Testament.  The  re- 
maining volume  will  follow  so  soon  as  it  can  be  got  ready  for  the 
press,  if  the  Lord  will,  whose  blessing  is  humbly  invoked  upon 
the  work  as  far  as  it  is  comj)leted. 

December  19th,  1860. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  Holy  Scriptures  are  the  only,  and  the  all-sufficient, 
and  the  finally  authentic  and  authoritative  source  of  the  His- 
tory of  the  Church  of  God. 

It  has  pleased  our  Heavenly  Father  to  make  a  special  and 
written  revelation  of  Himself  to  the  children  of  men.  The 
fact  that  He  has  made  such  a  revelation,  aside  from  other 
most  weighty  considerations,  proves  its  necessity.  Emanating 
from  God,  the  product  of  His  infinite  power,  wisdom,  justice, 
goodness,  and  truth,  its  authority  is  infinite  and  undisputed, 
and  extends  throughout  the  entire  circle  of  subjects  and 
objects  upon  which  God  has  therein  directly  and  designedly 
declared  His  will. 

"We,  by  this  short  but  conclusive  train  of  reasoning,  in  all 
matters  of  religious  faith  and  practice,  elevate  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures to  supreme  authority ;  for,  to  the  voice  of  God  all  crea- 
tures in  heaven  and  in  earth  must  reverently  and  implicitly 
bow. 

The  Lord  God  has  propounded  His  revelation  as  of  su- 
preme authority,  and  men  have  deviated  from  it,  or  mutilated 
or  rejected  it,  at  the  peril  of  His  everlasting  displeasure. 
Consequently,  the  true  servants  of  God  in  all  ages  have  ac- 
knowledged and  submitted  to  this  supreme  authority.  But 
whenever  His  professed  servants  have  declined  from,  or  not 
known,  the  inward  and  spiritual  experience  of  the  truth  and 
living  power  and  grace  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  they  have  been 
open  to  the  reception  of  other  rules  and  standards  for  the  de- 
termination of  their  faith  and  practice  ;  and  not  unfrequently 


U  INTRODUCTION. 

they  liave  terminated  tlieir  career  in  deism  and  infidelity. 
"  Then  spake  Jesus  again  unto  them,  saying :  I  am  the  light 
of  the  world ;  he  that  followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness, 
but  shall  have  the  light  of  life.'"  John  viii.  12.  Immediately 
as  we  cease  to  follow  Him  who  is  the  brightness  of  the  Father's 
glory  and  the  express  image  of  His  person,  we  walk  in  dark- 
ness.   Heb.  i.  3;  John  i.  18;  iii.  13. 

But  it  has  occurred  in  the  history  of  the  Church  in  ancient 
and  comparatively  modern  times,  that  professed  believers,  while 
adhering  to  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  of  supreme  and  ultimate 
authority,  have  set  limits  to  their  subject-matter,  and  conse- 
quently to  their  authority.  They  are  perfect  and  authoritative, 
say  they,  as  far  as  they  go,  but  do  not  cover  the  entire  matter 
of  revelation  and  of  instruction  to  men.  They  have  therefore 
to  supply  this  lack,  foisted  in  traditions  or  an  oral  revelation 
from  God,  which  they  advance  to  a  like  authority  with  written 
revelation  itself.  Such  was  the  conduct  of  the  Pharisees  of 
old,  and  of  the  Roman  Catholics  of  later  times,  with  this  ad- 
dition in  the  case  of  the  latter,  that  they  have  introduced,  as 
part  of  the  canon  of  Scripture,  apocryphal  books,  spurious 
and  uninspired  works,  with  the  obvious  design  of  giving 
support  to  some  of  their  most  offensive  and  anticbristian 
dogmas. 

The  insufficiency  of  Scripture  for  the  settlement  of  our  faith 
and  practice,  in  respect  to  the  constitution  and  government 
of  the  visible  church,  is  an  opinion  that  has  its  advocates. 
They  say  much  is  left  to  be  settled  by  reason,  and  propriety, 
and  expediency,  and  especially  by  the  customs  and  usages  of 
the  earliest  ages  after  the  death  of  the  Apostles.  Hence  to 
determine  the  authority  of  a  rite,  or  an  office,  they  run  their 
inquiry  along  the  line  of  ecclesiastical  history  backward  and 
upward,  strengthening  their  opinion  as  they  proceed,  until  it 
becomes  in  their  judgment  clearly  established  as  they  reach 
the  times  of  the  Apostles.  Nothing  now  remains  but  that  they 
enter  tlie  Scriptures  with  their  conclusions,  and  by  a  little 
jeffort  they  are  enabled  to  make  them  give  a  verdict  in  their 
favor,  and  the  point  is  made  out  and  their  work  accomplished. 
We  prefer  the  just  method,  and  the  method  more  honorable 


INTEODUCTION.  lH 

to  God  and  more  satisfactory  in  its  results  to  ingenuous  minds, 
namely,  that  of  arguing  out  of  and  from  the  Scriptures  down- 
wards. Pursuing  this  method,  it  will  aj)pear  that  the  funda- 
mental doctrines  and  correspondent  duties,  and  the  institu- 
tions and  ordinances  and  offices  of  the  Church,  and  the  gene- 
ral principles  regulating  discipline  and  government,  are  "either 
expressly  set  down  in  Scriptm-e,  or  by  good  and  necessary  con- 
sequence may  be  deduced  from  Scripture."  Fundamental  truth, 
truth  essential  to  the  basis  of  the  Church,  must  be  deduced  im- 
mediately from  Scripture ;  truth,  non-essential,  whicli  may,  for 
example,  concern  the  conduct  of  divine  worship,  the  manner 
of  administering  ordinances,  or  the  particular  form  of  govern- 
ment, may  be  "  ordered"  by  the  light  of  natm-e  and  Christian 
prudence,  according  to  general  rules  and  facts  bearing  on  the 
points  in  "  the  "Word"  itself.  Customs  and  usages  for  which 
their  advocates  boast  an  origin  coeval  with  Apostolic  times 
carry  no  other  argument  in  favor  of  their  divine  original  than 
a  presumptive  one.  If  the  Scriptures  are  silent,  either  in 
direct  testimony  or  in  clear  and  necessary  inference,  the  argu- 
ment is  of  little  value. 

Embracing  the  doctrine  of  sound  Protestants, — which  lias 
indeed  always  been  the  doctrine  of  God's  true  people,  and  upon 
which  they  have  rested  tlieir  eternal  interests,  and  for  which 
they  have  contended,  and  suffered,  and  laid  down  their  very 
lives, — that  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  the  only  and  all-sufficient 
and  finally  authentic  and  authoritative  source  of  the  history 
of  the  Church  of  God,  we  ask  the  question,  What  is  the 
Church  but  the  creation  of  God  ?  What  know  we  of  the  Church 
other  than  as  God  has  revealed  it  to  us?  The  Scriptures,  then, 
are  the  first  and  the  last  book  of  ecclesiastical  history.  Therein 
God  has  revealed  his  Church  upon  earth  in  its  origin,  cove- 
nants, constitution,  doctrines,  ordinances,  members,  officers, 
government,  and  discipline.  jSTo  mortal  of  his  own  wisdom  or 
power  dare  attempt  tlie  furnishing  of  any  one  portion,  how- 
ever insignificant,  of  this  building  of  God.  Aside  from  the 
Scriptures,  he  knows  nothing  of  it.  Begin  our  inquiries  and 
om'  controversies  with  what  and  when  we  may,  we  are  forced 
to  ascend  and  drink,  that  we  may  be  satisfied  from  this  true 


IV  INTKODUCTION. 

and  only  source.  The  writings  of  men,  in  so  far  as  tliey  con- 
tain anything  valuable  in  relation  to  the  Church,  do  but  dravp" 
forth  and  exhibit  that  which  they  have  first  learned  out  of 
God's  lively  oracles.  And  it  follows  undeniably,  that  as  the 
Scriptures  are  the  only  authoritative,  all-sufficient  source  of 
the  history  of  the  Church,  so  they  are  the  all-sufficient  source 
interpreted  in  the  manner  already  indicated. 

The  Scriptures  have  not  always  existed  in  their  present 
complete  form,  but  have  been  composed  in  separate  and  con- 
secutive parts,  and  from  first  to  last  extend  over  a  long  tract  of 
time.  This  fact  does  not,  however,  at  all  militate  against  their 
all-sufficiency.  For,  as  far  as  they  were  at  any  time  composed, 
so  far  were  they  an  all-sufficient  source  of  the  history  of  the 
Church.  If  inspired  records  existed  before  the  flood,  they 
were  sufficient  for  the  time;  if  they  existed  between  the  flood 
and  the  call  of  Moses,  they  were  sufficient  for  the  time.  The 
Pentateuch  alone  was  sufficient  until  the  birth  of  our  Lord. 
Additions  were  made  from  Moses  to  Malachi,  but  not  so  much 
in  the  way  of  new  material  as  in  the  way  of  expansion,  illus- 
tration, and  application.  The  Old  Testament  was  all-sufficient 
for  the  Church  under  the  Old  Dispensation.  The  addition  of 
the  l^ew  Testament  makes  God's  Word  sufficient  for  the  Church 
to  the  end  of  time. 

Uninspired  writings  are  sources  of  information  respecting 
the  Church  as  it  exists  and  advances  on  earth,  and  possess  the 
authenticity  and  authority  of  such  writings ;  but  they  rise  not 
above  a  mere  testimony.  They  cannot,  of  themselves,  add  any- 
thing to  the  constitution,  doctrines,  order,  and  government  of 
the  Church.  Their  opinions  and  conclusions  are  human,  and 
may  be  wise,  and  just,  and  good,  and  deserving  of  veneration ; 
yet,  to  be  conclusive,  they  must  accord  with  the  standard. 
Hence,  we  may  quote  Heathen  and  Christian  writers,  even  the 
best  of  the  Fathers ;  but  they  are  witnesses  only,  and  we 
pass  by  them  for  the  settlement  of  our  faith,  and  "  search  the 
Scriptures."  Upon  inspired  ground,  and  with  inspired  testi- 
mony, we  fight  all  our  battles  and  win  all  our  victories  in  the 
history  of  the  Church  of  God. 

We  shall  not  attempt  in  the  outset  to  define  what  the 


INTKODUCTION.  V 

Church  of  God  is,  but  in  our  progress  we  shall  hope  to  make 
some  discoveries  of  the  body  itself;  and  then  it  will  be  seen  to 
be  what  it  really  is — or,  in  other  words,  it  will  speak  for  and 
define  itself. 

But  where  should  the  history  begin  ?  Properly  and  only  witli 
its  first  existence.  Perfect  histories  take  their  origin  with  the 
origin  of  tlie  individuals,  the  nations,  or  the  subjects  of  which 
they  treat.  History  naturally  descends  the  stream,  from  the 
gushing  fountain  to  the  ocean.  It  begins  with  the  birth,  and 
ends  with  the  death.  It  first  lays  the  foundation,  and  then 
proceeds  to  rear  the  superstructure.  To  compose  history 
backwards,  is  to  invert  the  order  of  nature.  To  begin  history 
in  the  middle,  without  some  truthful  and  well-digested  sketch 
or  clue  to  all  that  occurred  before,  is  to  labor  without  precision, 
and  to  leave  the  minds  of  learners  in  much  darkness  and  per- 
plexity ;  and,  in  fine,  to  oblige  them  to  undertake  for  their  own 
satisfaction  that  which  the  historian  neglected  to  do  for  them, 
namely,  to  go  back  and  begin  at  the  beginning. 

History  written  in  this  correct  method,  while  it  is  m.ore 
interesting,  cannot  fail  to  be  more  satisfactory  and  instructive. 
Where  doubt  arises  touching  any  matter  embraced  in  it,  the 
doubt  arises  either  from  the  imperfection  of  the  testimony  on 
the  point,  or  from  differing  interpretations  of  the  testimony 
itself.  In  such  a  case  the  historian  presents  his  views  upon 
his  own  responsibility.  His  readers,  having  all  the  available 
facts  before  them,  agree  or  disagree  with  him,  as  they  consider 
and  decide  for  themselves. 

History  is  a  connected  and  truthful  record  of  facts  and 
events.  Its  soul,  its  substance,  is  the  truthful  record,  and 
nothing  less  nor  more.  History  may  be  written  in  two  modes. 
The  first,  which  is  the  natural  and  only  mode,  is  to  collect  and 
chronologically  connect  the  facts  and  events  which  compose  its 
matter  and  staple,  and  then,  by  carefnl  consideration  and  com- 
parison, advance  to  our  conclusions  and  add  to  our  stock  of 
wisdom.  This  may  bo  termed  the  inductive  method.  The 
second  is :  first,  to  elaborate  our  theories,  and  then  so  to  collect, 
and  arrange,  and  color  our  facts  and  events,  as  to  unite  them 
into  the  support  of  our  theories.     It  may,  indeed,  happen  that 


VI  INTKODUCTION. 

our  theories  are  correct ;  but  we  have  taken  a  wrong  method 
to  demonstrate  that  they  are  so.  K  incorrect,  how  pernicious 
our  influence  over  our  inconsiderate  and  trustful  readers ! 
What  is  called  the  philosophy  of  history  is  too  frequently 
groundless  speculation.  True  philosophy  reposes  upon  facts ; 
upon  acknowledged  truths,  whether  physical  or  spiritual.  The 
moment  philosophy  steps  from  this  sure  foundation,  it  passes 
into  speculation.  "We  are  not  wanting  in  ecclesiastical  histo- 
rians of  this  theoretical  and  speculative  cast.  They  reason 
out  philosophically,  and  reason  up  to  facts,  instead  of  origi- 
nally searching  out  and  establishing  tlie  facts,  and  then  rea- 
soning from  them.  Such  historians  are  not  of  much  value 
beyond  their  discovery  and  accumulation  of  veritable  material 
for  the  use  of  judicious  minds. 

With  scarcely  a  notable  exception,  our  leading  ecclesias- 
tical historians,  ancient  and  modern,  begin  the  history  of 
the  Church  of  God  in  the  middle,  if  the  expression  may  be 
allowed.  Where,  and  at  what  period?  At  the  birth  of  our 
Lord.  And,  v,dthout  giving  even  a  sketcli  of  the  history  of 
the  Clnirch  prior  to  that  event,  they  proceed  to  lay  the  found- 
ations and  to  build  thereupon,  chiefly  out  of  the  l^ew  Testa- 
ment alone,  uniting  thereto  Apostolic  Fathers,  and  fathers, 
and  councils,  and  canons,  and  usages,  without  number.  Nay, 
in  ore  :  all  prior  to  the  birth  of  our  Lord  is  sometimes  sum  ma 
rily  disposed  of  as  shadows,  and  little  else,  no  recognition  being 
made  of  the  original  foundation,  and  constitutions,  and  doc- 
trines of  the  Church,  and  no  distinction  drawn  between  that 
which,  prior  to  the  birth  of  Christ,  was  real  and  essential  to  the 
very  nature  and  existence  of  the  Church,  and  therefore  neces- 
sarily abiding,  and  that  which  was  merely  typical  and  pro- 
phetical, and  which,  coming  to  fulfilment,  necessarily  passed 
away,  yet  leaving  us  in  clear  possession  of  the  substance, 
which  previously  we  held  and  enjoyed  under  the  shadow.  The 
truth  of  the  matter  is,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Lamb 
of  God  "  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world."  Kev.  xiii.  8. 
The  covenant  of  grace  was  as  real  and  efiicacious  in  operation 
before,  as  it  was  after,  His  incarnation ;  and  His  spiritual  body, 
the  Church,  enfolded  in  this  covenant,  was  called  out  and 


INTRODUCTION.  VU 

separated  from  the  world,  from  generation  to  generation,  and 
had  as  real  and  as  organized  an  existence  before  as  after  that 
wonderful  event.  ]!^o  new  Church,  distinct  from  the  old,  was 
set  up  by  our  Lord  at  His  coming.  The  child  that  attains  his 
majority  at  the  time  appointed  of  his  father,  and  is  no  longer 
under  tutors  and  governors,  but  is  lord  of  all,  is  not  a  new 
man  altogether.  He  is  the  same,  but  advanced  to  higher 
dignity,  and  privileges,  and  powers,  and  enjoyments.  The  sun 
partially  obscured  in  mist  and  clouds,  yet  giving  light  over  all 
the  earth,  and  emerging  visibly  and  effulgently  into  the  clear 
blue  expanse  of  the  heavens,  is  the  same  sun  still.  So  the 
Church,  passing  out  of  the  Old  into  the  l^ew  Dispensation,  is 
the  same  Church  still ;  and  to  sunder  the  Church  under  the 
one  dispensation  from  the  Church  under  the  other,  is  not  only 
an  error,  but  a  presumptuous  dealing  with  the  mind  and  will 
of  God.  We  are  to  attend  to  the  things  written  in  the  Law  of 
Moses,  and  in  the  Prophets,  and  in  the  Psalms,  concerning 
the  Church,  as  Vv-ell  as  to  the  things  written  in  the  I^ew  Testa- 
ment. The  Church  is  founded  on  the  Apostles  and  Prophets 
both,  "Jesus  Christ  Himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone." 
Eph.  ii.  19-22. 

Tlie  student,  consulting  the  historians,  or  sitting  at  the 
feet  of  professors  who  write  and  lecture  of  the  Chm'ch  in  tlic 
manner  now  adverted  to,  if  he  be  a  man  of  reflection,  and  one 
that  searches  into  the  foundations  of  things,  will,  sometimes  at 
least,  feel  himself  unsettled  in  respect  to  the  truth  or  falsehood 
of  many  important  facts  and  principles ;  and,  when  in  after- 
life, with  heavy  responsibilities  resting  upon  him,  he  is  brought 
into  contact  with  the  conflicting  dogmas  of  contending  sects, 
not  having  been  thoroughly  instructed  and  grounded  in  the 
truth,  he  is  liable  to  be  driven  about  by  every  wind  of  doc- 
trine ;  and  finally,  perhaps,  in  order  that  he  may  find  some  rest, 
takes  refuge  in  an  authority  impudently  usurped  and  blas- 
phemously asserted  and  exercised,  and  not  in  convictions  the] 
result  of  patient  and  thorough  inquiries  after  truth  ;  or,  with 
a  happier  result,  driven  by  the  blast  of  controversy,  or  led 
on  by  the  earnest  love  of  truth,  and  feeling  the  necessity  of  an 
ultimate  and  authoritative  appeal,  he  may  betake  himself  to  the 


VI]]  IlfTEODUCTION. 


bistory  wliicli  God  Himself  has  wi'itten  of  His  Church,  and 
there  have  all  his  doubts  resolved,  and  his  inquiries  answered, 
and  his  faith  established,  and  there  discover  arguments  fur- 
nished him  by  the  Holy  Spirit  Himself,  sufficient  for  the  over- 
throw of  all  errors  with  which  he  may  be  called  uj)on  to  con- 
tend. His  mind  and  his  conscience  enjoy  a  peaceful  rest,  so 
soon  as  he  discovers  that  the  true  history  of  the  Church  lies 
within  the  inspired  pages  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 
If,  contending  with  the  Jews,  he  desires  to  prove  that  Jesus  of 
jSTazareth  is  the  true  Messiah,  he  must  necessarily  show  the  ful- 
filment of  the  types,  shadows,  and  prophecies  of  tlie  Messiah 
in  the  Old  Dispensation,  in  the  person  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  in 
the  ISTew.  He  must  also  demonstrate  to  the  Jews,  that  the 
"  Olive  Tree,"  the  Church  under  the  New  Dispensation,  is 
identical  with  the  "  Olive  Tree,"  the  Church  under  the  Old, 
now  enlarged  by  the  calling  of  ithe  Gentiles,  accoi'ding  to  the 
Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament,  into  which  the  rejected  Jews 
will  hereafter  be  gathered. 

If  he  searches  for  the  origin  of  the  covenants  of  works, 
and  of  grace,  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  the  Church,  he 
runs  from  the  New  Testainent  backward  and  upward  even 
to  the  creation  and  fall  of  our  first  parents.  If  he  searches 
for  the  organization  of  the  visible  Chui^ch,  or  for  the  original 
and  unrevoked  constitution  of  this  Church  in  respect  to  its 
members,  he  must  go  backward  and  upward  from  the  New 
Testament  until  his  inquiries  run  out  and  find  a  solution  in 
the  call  of  Abraham.  If  he  desires  conviction  in  respect  to 
the  character  and  orders  of  the  ministry  of  God,  he  must  pass 
out  of  the  pages  of  uninspired  historians  and  divines,  and  leave 
the  courts  of  patriarchs  and  metropolitans  and  the  chambers 
of  ecumenical  councils,  and  betake  himself  to  the  direct  teach- 
ings of  the  New  Testament  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ,  diligCDtly  comparing  the  same  with  the  previous  com- 
munication of  His  will  in  the  Old  Testament.  If  he  would 
understand  what  are  the  doctrines  of  God  given  to  the  Church 
for  her  edification  and  glory,  he  must  discard,  as  of  final  au- 
thority, all  canons  and  decrees  of  councils,  and  all  traditions  of 
men,  and  all  creeds  and  confessions  of  faith,  in  themselves  con- 


INTEODUCTION.  ix 

sidered,  and  rely  wholly  upon  the  teachings  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, not  the  New  Testament  alone,  but  the  "New  and  Old 
together. 

History  embraces  both  dispensations. 

So  far  as  our  acquaintance  with  ecclesiastical  history  ex- 
tends, and  we  pretend  to  no  extensive  learning  in  the  matter, 
there  is  no  work  in  any  language  that  we  have  seen  or  heard 
of,  which  directly  and  fully  covers  this  ground.  It  is  not 
pretended  that  this  idea  of  the  true  history  of  the  Church 
is  anything  new :  far  from  it.  It  is  older  than  all  the  thoughts 
of  men  and  all  the  writings  of  men  on  the  subject.  It  is  an 
original  revelation  itself.  It  is  found  in  Moses,  and  in  David, 
and  in  Isaiah,  and  in  all  the  Prophets,  when  they  speak  of  the 
Church  and  wi'ite  her  history,  and  prophesy  her  progress  in 
after  ages.  Distinguished  divines  have  suggested  and  af- 
firmed it,  and  have  founded  able  arguments  for  particular 
ends  upon  it ;  the  Protestant  confessions  of  faith  affirm  it ; 
and  one  eminent  historian,  Frederich  Spanheim,  after  his  own 
manner,  has  carried  it  through. 

Our  design  is,  in  humble  reliance  npon  Divine  aid,  to  carry 
out  this  idea  by  beginning  with  the  earliest  existence  of  the 
Church,  and  thence,  proceeding  by  regular  steps  downward 
through  the  entire  Scriptures  to  their  close,  cover  the  period 
of  revelation  only ;  and  we  shall  endeavor  to  determine  the 
Origin,  the  Covenants,  the  Doctrines,  the  Kites,  Ceremonies, 
Ordinances,  Members  and  Officers,  Order  and  Discij)line  of 
the  Church ;  and,  briefly,  the  principal  events  of  her  progress, 
and  especially  her  passage  out  of  the  Old  into  the  New  Dis- 
pensation, and  show  what  of  the  Old  found  accomplishment  as 
type,  or  shadow,  or  prophecy,  and  passed  away  in  the  New, 
and  what  remained  afterward  that  pertained  to  the  necessary 
existence  and  constitution  of  the  Church ;  and  what  was  the 
final  and  perfect  state  in  which  our  Lord  and  His  Apostles  left 
the  Church  when  the  canon  of  Scripture  closed. 

It  has  been  customary  with  writers  to  cast  the  four  thousand 
years  from  the  creation  to  the  birth  of  our  Lord,  and  then  the 
hundred  years  from  his  birth  to  the  close  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, into  ages,  or  epochs,  or  periods  of  time,  reaching  from 


X  INTKODUCTION. 

one  important  or  leading  event  to  another,  according  to  tlieir 
fancy,  some  making  a  greater  number  and  some  a  less.  These 
divisions  are  convenient,  and  are  a  help  to  composition,  and  a 
help  to  memory.  But  as  they  do  not  suit  my  design,  I  shall 
make  no  nse  of  them,  bnt  adopt  a  threefold  division,  natural 
to  the  plan  of  the  History :  namely,  the  first,  reaching  from 
the  foundation  of  the  Church  after  the  fall  to  the  call  of 
Abraham. — a  period  in  which  the  Church  existed  without  any 
clearly  revealed  and  defined  external  organization  ;  the  sec- 
ond, from  the  call  of  Abraham  to  the  coming  of  our  Lord — 
a  period  in  which  the  Church  had  a  visible  and  organized 
form  ;  the  third,  from  the  coming  of  our  Lord  to  the  close 
of  the  'New  Testament — a  period  when  the  Church,  in  her 
visibility  and  unity,  passed  out  of  all  types  and  shadows  into 
the  substance,  and  assumed  her  final  and  perfect  state. 

For  a  simple  and  general  division  of  Church  history,  the 
ground  which  we  propose  to  cover  would  be  the  first,  or  in- 
spired and  authoritative  part  of  Church  history ;  while  that 
which  stretches  from  the  close  of  the  New  Testament  canon 
to  the  present  time,  would  be  the  second  or  uninspired  part  of 
Church  history.  The  first  is  indeed  inconceivably  the  more 
important  of  the  two.  The  second  delivers  to  us  the  progress 
of  the  Church,  successive  ages  after  her  perfection,  and  estab- 
lishes nothing  which  enters  into  the  being,  and  faith,  and  order 
of  the  Church.  Its  evidences  and  proofs  are  not  primary  but 
subsidiary.  "We  follow  down  the  tide  of  history,  and  mark 
the  Church,  in  some  periods  rejoicing  in  her  purity  and  glory, 
and  in  others  oppressed  by  corruptions  which  invaded  her 
bounds  and  impeded  her  progress,  and  even  destroyed  portions 
of  her  altogether.  Possessing  a  true  knowledge  of  the  Church 
in  the  first  part,  we  are  enabled  to  navigate  safely  that  sea  of 
ecclesiastical  history  of  the  second  part,  which  has  been  face- 
tiously termed  by  one  of  our  English  historians.  Dr.  Jortin, 
"  a  sea  without  a  bottom  or  a  shore." 

As  it  greatly  facilitates  om*  conception  and  comprehension  of 
any  fact,  or  doctrine,  or  rite,  or  office  in  the  Church,  to  be  able 
to  lay  our  finger  upon  the  time,  the  place,  and  the  circumstances 
of  its  first  appearance  or  existence,  we  shall  endeavor  in  the 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

History  to  do  this,  so  far  as  it  may  be  possible,  and  to  give  the 
entire  testimony  of  the  Scriptures  on  the  point;  and  when  a 
subject  is  thus  once  treated,  it  will  not  be  referred  to  again. 
Once  settled,  it  remains  so.  The  reader  will  consequently  be 
able  to  trace  truth  and  error  to  the  precise  time  and  place  of 
their  appearance  in  the  Church,  and  be  armed  for  the  support 
of  the  one  and  for  the  overthrow  of  the  other.  And  it  will 
be  sometimes  seen  that,  far  away  in  the  depths  of  the  earlier 
history  of  the  Church,  serious  and  long-established  errors  and 
exhausting  controversies  are  met  and  settled  with  a  few  but 
effective  blows  of  the  sword  of  the  Spirit. 

The  chronology  adopted  is  Archbishop  Usher's,  none  other 
than  that  which  has  been  introduced  into  onr  English  Bibles, 
and  with  which  English  readers  are  most  familiar,  and  which  is 
sufficient  for  all  practical  purposes.  It  is  a  pleasing  reflection, 
that  the  difficulty  of  settling  the  precise  date  of  the  leading 
events  of  history  does  not  impair  the  truth  of  those  events. 
Tliey  demonstrate  their  own  existence.  We  may  dispute  the 
correctness  of  the  year  of  the  advent  of  our  Lord ;  and  yet 
who  could  deny  that  He  did  come  ?  A  thousand  years  hence 
the  date  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  may  be  in- 
volved in  confusion ;  yet  what  doubt  could  arise  in  respect  to 
the  fact  ? 

Archbishop  Usher  wrote  his  Annals  of  the  Old  and  JSTew 
Testaments  two  hundred  years  ago.  There  were  chronolo- 
gists  in  the  world  before  him.  Many  have  written  since  his 
day,  but  he  holds  his  footing ;  and  the  commendation  passed 
upon  him  over  a  hundred  years  since  by  that  most  solid  and 
learned  man,  Dean  Prideaux,  may  with  much  reason  be  re- 
peated. Saith  he,  "  Several  have,  in  Latin,  written  by  way  of 
annals  of  the  times  of  which  I  treat,  as  Gomeillus,  Salianus, 
Capellus,  and  others.  But  above  all  of  this  kind  are  Arch- 
bishop Usher's  Annals  of  the  Old  and  IsTew  Testaments,  which 
is  the  exactest  and  most  perfect  work  of  chronology  that  hath 
been  published,  to  which  I  acknowledge  I  have  been  much 
beholden;  and,  although  I  have  not  always  concurred  with 
him,  yet  I  have,  for  the  most  part,  especially  in  the  ordering 
and  settling  the  years  to  which  I  refer  the  actions  that  are 


Xll  mTEODTrCTION. 

related ;  for  I  look  upon  what  lie  liath  done  before  me  herein 
to  be  the  surest  and  safest  clue  I  could  conduct  myself  by 
through  all  the  intricate  labyrinths  of  ancient  times;  and 
therefore  I  have  generally  followed  him  in  fixing  of  the  years, 
excepting  only  where  I  saw  very  good  reason  to  do  otherwise. 
But  as  to  the  other  annalists  I  have  mentioned,  I  have  found 
it  mostly  end  in  loss  of  time  to  consult  them."  Conn.  1, 
pref  p.  19. 


THE  HISTORY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   CREATION   AND   PRIMITIVE   STATE    OF   MAN. 

The  Holy  Scriptures  do  not  open  with  an  appeal  to  rea- 
son, but  to  tlie  faith  of  men.  They  do  not  implore,  but  com- 
mand reception.  Their  voice  is  that  of  authority.  They  do 
not  offer  to  men  an  argument  to  prove  that  there  is  a  personal 
God,  independent  of  the  material  universe,  and  distinct  and 
separate  from  every  creature,  to  prepare  and  induce  them  to 
receive  with  due  submission  and  obedience  His  commands. 
l!^or  do  they  offer  an  argument  to  j)rove  that  the  heavens  and 
the  earth  are  not  eternal,  but  on  the  contrary  are  the  pro- 
duct of  a  great  First  Cause,  and  therefore  are  justly  subject  to 
His  will.  Botli  facts  are  directly  asserted.  "  In  the  begin- 
ning"—  when  as  yet  there  was  none  of  them — "God" — 
the  eternal,  self-existent,  almighty,  and  sovereign  God — 
"  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth."  Gen.  i.  1.  "  He  calleth 
those  things  which  be  not  as  though  they  were."  Eom.  iv.  17. 
The  heavens  and  the  earth  owe  their  existence  to  His  will. 
"  By  the  word  of  the  Lord  were  the  heavens  made ;  and  all  the 
host  of  them  by  the  breath  of  His  mouth  :  He  spake,  and  it 
was  done ;  He  commanded,  and  it  stood  fast."  Ps.  xxxiii.  6,  9. 

We  receive  the  existence  of  God,  and  the  creation  of  all 
things  by  Him  out  of  nothing,  by  faith.  "  He  that  cometh 
to  God  must  believe  that  He  is :  and  that  he  is  the  rewarder 
of  them  that  diligently  seek  Him  ;"  and,  "  Through  faith  we 
understand  that  the  worlds  were  framed  by  the  word  of  God, 
so  that  things  which  are  seen  were  not  made  of  thinffs  which 


14  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   CHURCH    OF   GOD. 

do  appear."  *  Heb.  xi.  6,  3.  And  as  God  and  Creator,  we 
yield  unreservedly  to  His  sovereign  government  and  all-wise 
and  righteous  disposal  of  all  things. 

To  these  truths  revealed  to  faith  our  reason  and  our  con- 
science give  unqualified  assent.  We  are  compelled  to  debase 
ourselves  and  to  do  violence  to  our  natures,  in  order  either  to 
pervert  or  to  deny  them.  The  seeds  of  them  are  never  wholly 
obliterated  from  the  mind  of  man.  Rom.  i.  18-32.  Ps.  xiv.  1. 
Rom.  ii.  14-15.  Our  race  began  its  existence  on  earth  under 
revelation,  for  God  immediately  and  directly  revealed  Himself, 
His  works,  and  His  will,  to  our  first  parents  upon  their  creation. 

The  great  end  for  which  God  created  all  things  is  His 
own  glory :  that  is  to  say,  by  the  manifestion  of  His  power, 
wisdom,  justice,  goodness,  and  truth,  in  the  creation,  preserva- 
tion, government,  and  end  of  all  things.  He  might  not  only 
reveal  Himself  as  infinitely  excellent,  glorious,  and  lovely,  in 
the  eyes  of  his  intelligent  creatures,  but  in  His  own  eyes 
also,  and  be  satisfied  in  Himself  in  His  infinite  perfections 
for  ever  and  ever.  "  Thou  art  worthy,  O  Lord,  to  receive  glory 
and  honor  and  power:  for  thou  hast  created  all  things, 
and  for  thy  pleasure  they  are  and  were  created."  Rev.  iv.  11. 
Of  God  it  is  said,  "  The  Lord  hath  made  all  things  for  Him- 
self," Prov.  xvi.  4 ;  "  and  by  whom  are  all  things,  for  whom 
are  all  things,"  Heb.  ii.  10 ;  and,  to  embrace  all  in  one  line, 
"  For  of  Him,  and  through  Him,  and  to  Him,  are  all  things." 
Rom.  xi.  36. 

The  Church,  as  part  of  the  creation  of  God,  has  for  its  last 
end  the  manifestation  of  His  glory.  It  is  of  God,  and  through 
God,  and  to  God;  and  the  revelation  of  His  glory  in  His 
Church  will  occupy  not  only  all  time,  but  eternity  also. 

Of  whom  is  this  Church  of  God  on  earth  composed?  Of 
the  entire  race  of  mankind,  or  of  a  part  only  ?  Of  a  part 
only.  There  must  therefore  have  been  a  period  when  a  sepa- 
ration was  made  between  the  people  of  God  and  the  men  of 
the  world ;  and  in  commencing  the  history  of  the  Church,  the 
events  which  led  to  this  separation,  or,  in  other  words,  which 
immediately  preceded  the  existence  of  the  Churcli,  and  indeed 
gave  birth  to  that  existence,  demand  most  careful  considera- 


THE   CREATION   AND   PRIMITIVE   STATE   OF   MAN.  15 

tion.  They  do  indeed  lie  at  tlie  foundation,  and  are  never 
lost  sight  of,  bat  give  color  and  form  and  direction  to  the 
history  that  follows ;  and  to  be  either  altogether  ignorant  of 
these  events,  or  to  misunderstand  their  true  nature  and  rela- 
tions, would  be  disastrous  to  the  inquirer  after  truth.  We 
may  therefore  comprehend  to  some  good  extent  why  th'3 
Holy  Spirit  has  placed  them  in  the  very  first  pages  of  tlio 
Book  of  God. 

The  events  to  which  we  refer  may  be  cast  under  the 
following;  heads :  The  Creation  and  Primitive  State  of  Man. 
The  Institution  of  Marriage.  The  Covenant  of  "Works  under 
which  Man  was  placed  for  Trial.  The  Institution  of  the  Sab- 
bath. The  Existence  and  Agency  of  Angels.  The  Fall  and 
Consequences.  The  Covenant  of  Grace.  The  Institution  of 
Sacrifices  and  Administration  of  the  Covenants.  Having  dis- 
posed of  these  events,  the  Keason  and  ISTecessity  of  the  Exist- 
ence of  the  Church  will  appear,  and  her  Everlasting  Founda- 
tions be  laid  in  the  Glorious  Covenant  of  Grace — Jesus  Christ 
Himself  being  the  Chief  Corner-stone  thereof. 

To  proceed  in  the  prescribed  order,  we  enter  first  upon  the 
Creation  and  Primitive  State  of  Man, 

Upon  the  sixth  and  last  day  of  the  creation  of  the  heav- 
ens and  earth,  and  crowning  that  glorious  work,  God  said : 
"  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  likeness ;  and  let 
them  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the 
fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  the  cattle,  and  over  all  the  earth, 
and  over  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth." 
Gen.  i,  26.  "And  the  Lord  God  foi-med  man  of  the  dust  of  the 
ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and 
man  became  a  living  soul."  Gen.  ii.  T.  And  when  "the 
Lord  God  brought  every  beast  of  the  field  and  every  fov.d  of 
the  air  to  Adam,"  then  "Adam  gave  names  to  all  cattle,  and 
to  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  to  every  beast  of  the  field ;  but  for 
Adam  there  was  not  found  a  help  meet  for  him."  Gen.  ii. 
18-20.  "And  the  Lord  God  said.  It  is  not  good  that  the 
man  should  be  alone ;  I  will  make  an  help  meet  for  him." 
Gen.  ii.  '.  ;\  "  And  the  Lord  God  caused  a  deep  sleep  to  fall 
upon  Adam,  and  he  slept ;  and  He  took  one  of  his  ribs,  and 


16  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH    OF   GOD. 

closed  up  the  flesh  instead  thereof.  And  the  rib  whicli  the 
Lord  God  had  taken  from  man,  made  he  a  woman,  and  brought 
her  unto  the  man.  And  Adam  said,  This  is  now  bone  of  my 
bones,  and  flesh  of  my  flesh  ;  she  shall  be  called  Woman,  be- 
cause she  was  talcen  out  of  Man.  Therefore  shall  a  man  leave 
his  father  and  his  mother,  and  shall  cleave  unto  his  wife,  and 
they  shall  be  one  flesh."  Gen.  ii.  21-24.  "  So  God  created 
man  in  his  own  image,  in  the  image  of  God  created  he  him ; 
male  and  female  created  he  them.  And  God  blessed  them, 
and  God  said  unto  them,  Be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  re- 
plenish the  earth,  and  subdue  it ;  and  have  dominion  over  the 
fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  every 
living  thing  that  moveth  upon  the  earth."  Gen.  i.  27-28. 
"  And  God  saw  everything  that  He  had  made,  and,  behold,  it 
was  very  good."  Gen.  i.  31.  "  And  they  were  both  naked, 
the  man  and  his  wife,  and  were  not  ashamed."  Gen,  ii.  25. 
Such  was  the  creation  of  our  first  parents. 

The  Holy  Spirit,  however,  in  recording  their  creation, 
reveals  the  manner  in  which  they  were  created,  and  so  intro- 
duces us  to  a  knowledge  of  their  primitive  state  as  the  chil- 
dren of  God. 

Their  creation  is  announced  with  a  solemnity  and  delibera- 
tion indicative  of  its  importance.  "And  God  said.  Let  us 
make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  likeness ; "  and  then  is  it 
added  with  emphasis  that  the  Divine  purpose  had  been  car- 
ried into  efiect.  "  So  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in 
the  image  of  God  created  he  him  ;  male  and  female  created  he 
them.  "  Gen.  i.  26-27.  They  alone,  of  all  this  lower  world, 
were  created  in  the  image  of  God.  Here  are  dignity,  worth, 
and  glory ! 

Wherein  did  that  image  of  God  consist?  How  v/as  man 
made  like  God  ? 

l!Tot  in  body,  for  God  is  without  a  body.  "  God  is  a  spirit." 
The  body  of  man,  wonderfully  and  curiously  wi'ought,  is  not 
surpassed  by  any  other  work  of  God.  It  stands  at  the  head 
of  all,  and  is  the  sum  and  crown  and  glory  of  all.  Its  upright- 
ness, perfection,  and  beauty,  indicate  its  true  and  lordly  supe- 
riority.    But  this  body  is  distinct  and  separable  from  his  soul 


THE   CREATION    AND   PUnHTIVE    STATE   OF    MAN.  17 

or  spiritual  nature.  The  Lord  God  formed  man  of  tlie  dust 
of  the  ground,  from  preexisting  matter.  In  this  lie  was  and  is 
literally  "  of  tlie  earth  ; "'  but  his  spirit,  like  that  of  the  angels, 
was  an  immediate  creation  of  God  ;  for,  this  body  being  formed, 
the  Lord  God  then  "  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of 
life,  and  man  became  a  livins;  soul."  This  "  breath  of  life  " 
was  not  merely  a  quickening  principle,  a  vital  force,  eaabling 
man  as  a  mere  animal  to  move  and  perform  evevj  act  of  life; 
but  it  included  more,  even  a  rational  and  an  immortal  and 
accountable  spirit,  now  mysteriously  united  to  his  animal  na- 
ture, over  which  it  is  to  preside  and  rule.  The  body,  with  all 
its  powers  and  members,  is  but  the  instrument  of  the  soul,  a 
tabernacle  in  wdiich  it  dwells  while  conversant  with  this  lovv'er 
world.  Gen.  ii.  7 ;  iii.  19 ;  Eccl.  xii.  7 ;  Acts  vii.  59 ; 
Matt.  X.  28. 

And  it  was  in  this,  his  soul,  or  spiritual  nature,  that  man 
was  made  like  God.  "  God  is  a  spirit,"  and  man  is  a  spirit. 
Heb.  xii.  9,  23.  Yet  that  soul  is  not  an  emanation  or  efflux 
from  God  himself;  it  is  not  a  part  of  the  divine  nature  or 
essence,  but  is  a  created  dependent  spirit,  distinct  from  God, 
yet  partaking  of  His  likeness  as  a  spirit,  in  its  measure. 
I!^umb.  xvi.  22  ;  xxvii.  16  ;  Prov.  xvi.  2 ;   Matt.  x.  28. 

Now  this  likeness  is  evinced  by  an  induction  of  particulars : 

In  that  very  spiritual  nature  itself :  God  is  a  spirit,  incor- 
poreal, infinite,  independent,  invisible,  and  eternal ;  "  The 
father  of  spirits  "  and  "  the  God  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh." 
The  spirit  of  man  is  not  material,  but  created,  finite,  depend- 
ent, and  invisible  to  himself,  at  least  in  this  life,  and  also  to 
his  fellow-men ;  yet  immortal,  not  through  any  indestructible 
essence  of  which  it  is  created,  but  wholly  through  the  sove- 
reign will  and  sustaining  power  of  God.  In  this  spirituality 
of  nature  man  is  like  God,  most  exalted  and  precious,  crowned 
with  glory  and  honor,  and  set  over  the  works  of  his  hands. 

In  Icnoxcledge :  God  is  a  God  of  knowledge  and  of  infinite 
understanding.  So  He  has  endowed  man  with  understanding, 
a  faculty  of  mind  whereby  he  is  enabled  to  perceive  and  to 
comprehend  the  existence,  properties,  relations,  and  ends  of 
all  things  brought  before  it,  itself  among  the  rest,  and  God 
2 


18  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE    CHURCH    OF    GOD. 

the  infinite  and  glorious  Creator,  above  all.  And  this  under- 
standing He  called  into  exercise  immediately  after  his  crea- 
tion, and  also  inspired  him  with  an  amount  of  knowledge,  which 
at  that  time  he  could  have  obtained  in  no  other  manner.  For 
example,  He  revealed  Himself  to  man,  and  inspired  him  with 
a  knowledge  of  Himself  as  his  God  and  Creator.  He  inspired 
him  with  a  knowledge  of  all  the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  every 
green  thing  suitable  for  food,  and  of  times  and  seasons,  and 
the  methods  of  cultivating,  dressing,  and  keeping  the  garden  of 
Eden ;  of  the  origin  of  Eve,  of  the  nature,  the  tender  devo- 
tion and  perpetuity  of  the  marriage  relation,  and  its  prece- 
dence over  any  other  relation  which  might  exist  among  men. 
But  what  is  of  special  interest  to  us,  his  knowledge  extended 
to  all  his  relations  to  God  and  to  his  companion,  and  conse- 
quently to  all  his  duties  growing  out  of  those  relations.  In  a 
word,  he  had  the  law  of  God  written  in  his  heart,  which,  in 
the  absence  of  a  written  revealed  law,  is  denominated  the  law 
of  nature ;  and  such  was  the  extent  of  his  knowledge  in 
respect  to  God  and  his  duties,  and  such  the  correctness  of  the 
operations  of  his  understanding  and  the  purity  of  his  con- 
science, that  he  needed  no  other  teacher  beyond  himself.  He 
Avas  a  law  unto  himself.  He  knew  how  to  regulate  his  heart 
and  life  that  he  might  be  acceptable  to  God.  He  was  not 
created  and  thrown  an  infant  upon  the  world,  but  a  full-grown 
man  in  the  perfect  maturity  of  his  powers,  both  of  mind  and 
body,  and  that  mind  enlightened  and  expanded,  free  from 
every  defect,  and  set  in  healthful  motion  by  the  inspiration  of 
the  Almighty,  and  by  his  immediate  presence  and  commu- 
nion.   Col.  iii.  10. 

In  righteousness :  God  is  infinite  rectitude  in  His  nature, 
in  His  law,  and  in  all  His  acts.  1  John  i.  5.  So  is  man  in 
his  measure.  His  afiections  will  run  in  harmony  with  the 
mind  and  will  of  God,  in  the  observance  of  every  duty  devolv- 
ing upon  him.  He  loved  God  supremely,  and  his  neighbor  as 
himself:  and  therefore  fulfilled  the  law,  and  merited  the  appel- 
lation of  righteous.     Eph.  iv.  24  ;  2  Cor.  iii.  18. 

In  true  holiness :  God  is  holy,  and,  as  man  came  from  His 
hand,  he  was  holy.     His  entire  nature  was  free  from  every 


THE   CREATION    AND   PRIMITIVE   STATE   OF   MAN.  19 

moral  defect ;  it  Lad  no  taint  of  sin,  no  bias,  no  inclination 
towards  evil  of  any  kind.  His  thoughts,  feelings,  and  actions, 
were  spontaneously  holy,  while  his  communion  with  God  was 
direct  and  unrestrained. 

In  Happiness:  God  is  the  ever-blessed  God,  and  infinitely 
happy  in  Himself.  So  man  is  like  Him  in  this  respect  also  ; 
for,  as  a  result  of  the  purity  and  perfection  of  his  nature,  and 
the  just  and  holy  exercise  of  all  his  powers,  both  of  body  and 
mind,  he  was  happy.  Yet  not  happy  in  and  of  himself,  as  God 
is  ;  for  he  is  but  a  creatm*e,  and  his  turning  and  consecration 
must  be  to  God,  who  alone  could  be  his  satisfying  and  exhaust- 
less  portion.  His  chief  end  therefore  was  to  glorify  and  enjoy 
Him,  and  while  he  attained  that  end  he  was  happy.  Col.  i.  16; 
Eom.  i.  20  ;  Gen.  i.  31 ;  Eom.  xi.  36. 

And  it  may  further  be  added  that  the  image  of  God  is  seen 
in  Dominion.  Man  images  forth  the  power  and  authority 
of  God,  in  being  clothed  with  dominion  over  all  this  lower 
world.     Ps.  viii."l-9  ;  1  Cor.  xi.  7 ;  Gen.  i.  28. 

Our  first  parents  being  created  in  this  image,  or  likeness  of 
God,  were,  in  this  their  primitive  state,  perfect.  God  Him- 
self pronounced  them  "very  good."  Gen.  i.  31.  "He  made 
man  upright,"  Eccl.  vii.  29,  "  and  rejoiced  in  the  work  of  His 
hands ;  for  His  delights  were  (now)  with  the  sons  of  men." 
Eccl.  viii.  31  ;    Job  xxxviii.  7. 

That  our  first  parents  were  in  their  primitive  state  perfect 
and  upright  before  God,  is  not  only  thus  evident  from  the  his- 
tory of  their  creation  itself,  but  also  from  the  subsequent  fall 
and  ruin ;  and  from  the  fact  that  in  his  salvation  by  a  Re- 
deemer, as  a  requisite  for  the  favor  of  God  and  for  communion 
with  Him,  and  for  an  introduction  to  His  presence  in  Heaven, 
the  lost  image  of  God  must  be  restored  in  the  soul  of  man.  He 
must  be  newly  created  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  and  made 
like  to  Himself,  as  he  came  originally  from  the  hands  of  God. 
Eph.  iv.  21: ;  Col.  iii.  10  ;  John  iii.  1-6. 


20  THE   HISTOEY    OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF    GOD. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THB  INSTITUTION   OF  MAKEIAGE. 


Having  in  this  nianuer  created  man  in  His  image  and  after 
His  own  likeness,  "male  and  female, "  tlien  did  tlie  Lord  God 
"  bring  the  woman  which  he  had  made  unto  the  man,"  for  his 
"  help  meet''  and  "  wife,  "  in  order  that  he  himself  might  join 
them  together,  Matt.  xis.  4-6,  and  that  they  might  be  "one 
flesh."  Gen.  ii.  21-24. 

In  pursuance  of  our  design,  which  is  to  unfold  the  institu- 
tions and  doctrines  and  ordinances  of  tlie  Church  as  they  are 
revealed  throughout  the  entire  Scriptures,  at  the  precise  time 
that  they  first  appear  in  the  History,  we  must  here  treat  of  this 
divine  institution. 

The  Lord  formed  man  with  various  instincts  and  propen- 
sities, both  mental  and  physical,  which  lay  a  foundation  and 
create  a  necessity  in  his  very  nature  for  marriage.  For  this 
reason  He  said,  "It  is  not  good  that  the  man  should  be  alone ; 
I  will  make  him  an  help  meet  for  him,"  Gen.  ii.  18-24 ;  and 
made  "the  woman  for  the  man,"  1  Cor.  xi.  9 ;  and  joined  them 
together.  Matt.  xix.  4-6 ;  and  ever  after,  throughout  His 
Holy  Word,  He  carefully  watches  over  this  relation  and  pre- 
serves it  from  defilement.  Gen.  xx.  1-18 ;  xii.  11-20 ;  xxvi. 
6-11.  It  is  recognized  and  reordained  and  strengthened  in  the 
Decalogue.  Exod.  xx.  12,  14,  17.  God  forbids  and  punishes 
transgressions  of  it,  Levit.  xviii.  20 ;  Prov.  ii.  15-18 ;  vi.  23-35  ; 
vii.  1-27;  Eom.  vii.  2,3;  Matt.  v.  27,  28;  Mark  x.  11,  12; 
Eph.  V.  3-6 ;  Levit.  xx.  10 ;  Jer.  v.  7-9  ;  Mai.  iii.  5  ;  Heb. 
xiii.  4;  1  Cor.  vi.  9,10;  Eev.  xxi.  8  ;  xxii.  15.     He  defends  it 


THE   mSTTTDTION    OF   MAEKIAGE.  21 

from  perversion  and  corruption,  Mai.  ii.  14-17 ;  Matt.  xix. 
1-12,  &c. ;  Exod.  xx.  14 ;  and,  when  departed  from  by  the 
practice  of  polygamy,  Pie  subjects  polygamists  to  stringent 
regulations  which  were  designed  to  prevent  its  growth  and 
abuse,  and  to  lead  men  back  to  the  institution  as  it  was  in  the 
beginning.  See  all  the  laws  instituted  by  Moses  for  the  govern  - 
ment  of  the  Church  in  relation  thereto.  Mark  x.  1-12  ;  Deut. 
xxiv.  1-4 ;  xxii.  19,  29,  &c.  He  calls  marriage,  in  respect  to 
the  wife,  "  the  covenant  of  her  God, "  Prov.  ii.  IT ;  that  is,  a 
covenant  ordained  of  God.  And  in  respect  to  her  husband  she 
is  called  "  the  wife  of  thy  (his)  covenant."  Mai.  ii.  14.  And 
in  the  last  days  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  his  infinite  authority, 
restores  marriage  to  its  original  form,  and  so  is  it  to  be  observed 
in  the  Church  until  the  end  of  the  world.  Matt.  xix.  1-12 ; 
Luke  xvi.  18  ;  Matt.  x.  1-12 ;  Rom.  vii.  3 ;  1  Cor.  vi.  9  ;  lieb. 
xiii.  14  ;  Gal.  v.  19  ;  Luke  xviii.  20;  John  viii.  3  ;  1  Tim.  iii.  2  ; 
Titus  i.  6. 

The  providence  of  God  is  in  harmony  with  His  word,  since, 
in  a  most  wonderful  manner,  He  keeps  up,  in  the  natural  in- 
crease of  the  race,  the  equality  of  the  sexes  at  marriageable 
ages,  and  that  over  the  whole  earth,  and  ever  since  its  founda- 
tion; and  then  continually  stretches  out  His  hand  against 
transgressors,  who  by  multiplying  wives  would  disturb  this 
great  law;  and  He  subjects  them  to  sure  evils,  in  the  form  of 
family  divisions  and  strifes,  bitter  wrath,  and  cruel  revenge,  dis- 
eases, sudden  and  shameful  deaths,  nngoverned  and  wicked 
offspring,  decayed  fortunes,  and  various  other  judgments.  Gen. 
iv.  23,  24;  x^d.  1-16;  xxx.  1-2Y;  xxxvii.  1-36;  xix.  1-3S ; 
and  chapters  6  and  7,  &c. 

Finally,  nature  itself  speaks  in  favor  of  marriage.  Gen.  vi. 
6-11 ;  for  in  all  nations,  civilized  and  savage,  however  much 
it  may  in  many  respects  be  abused  and  perverted,  the  laws 
ordained,  and  the  customs  that  obtain  in  respect  to  the  insti- 
tution, evidence  that  men  attach  a  peculiar  value  and  sacred- 
ness  to  it. 

Thus  ordained  of  God,  marriage  stands  first  in  order  of  time 
and  of  importance  in  the  social  relations  of  men.  It  precedes 
and  lays  the  foundation  for  all  societies  and  governments,  and, 


22  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    OF   GOD. 

according  to  its  own  purity  or  impurity,  determines  their  char- 
acter for  good  or  evil.  It  is  the  first  government  men  know 
and  feel,  and  in  wliich  they  are  taught  love,  veneration,  and 
respect  for  superiors,  subordination  and  obedience  to  law,  and 
a  due  regard  to  the  rights  and  interests  of  others. 

It  partakes  also  of  the  nature  of  a  civil  institution,  as  is 
evident  from  the  laws  and  regulations  concerning  it  given  by 
God  to  His  Church,  at  the  time  that  Church  was  erected  into  a 
civil  society,  or  state,  for  a  given  time  and  for  specific  pur- 
poses. Exod.  XX.  14 ;  Deut.  xxii.  13,  27 ;  xx.  7 ;  xxiv.  1-5  ; 
xxi.  14 ;  Exod.  xxi.  7-12 ;  Levit.  18th,  19th  and  20th  chap- 
ters ;  Gen.  xxxviii.  24 ;  Levit.  xxi.  9 ;  Exod,  xxii.  16,  17 ; 
Deut.  xxiii.  2-17 ;  l^umb.  v.  12-31.  And  these  laws  and 
regulations  have  been  adopted,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  into 
the  laws,  at  least  of  all  civilized  and  Christianized  nations,  and 
are  perpetually  binding  upon  men  to  the  end  of  time,  Gen. 
i.  27,  28  ;  ii.  24 ;  are  honorable  in  all,  Heb.  xiii.  4 ;  and  may 
not  be  prohibited  by  any  human  authority ;  for  the  constitu- 
tion of  our  nature  adapting  and  inclining  us  to  marriage,  and 
the  law  of  God  commanding  it  for  the  increase  of  the  race,  and 
for  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  man,  are  not  to  be  assailed  by 
the  authority  of  man.  The  attempt  to  do  so,  under  whatever 
pretexts,  and  limited  to  whatever  classes  of  society,  is  a  direct 
assault  upon  the  very  nature  of  man  itself,  a  blow  levelled  at 
his  social  peace  and  prosperity,  an  attack  upon  the  order  and 
purity  of  society,  and  an  infidel  trampling  under  foot  of  the 
law  of  God,  which  will  meet  with  rebuke  and  sore  punish- 
ment at  His  hands.  Heb  xiii.  4 ;  Prov.  v.  1-23 ;  1  Cor.  vii. 
2  ;  ix.  5  ;  1  Tim.  iii.  2, 12 ;  v.  14 ;  1  Cor.  vi.  15-20.  "  Forbid- 
ding to  marry"  is  set  down  as  a  "  departure  from  the  faith" 
"  in  the  latter  times,"  and  classed  with  "  doctrines  of  devils," 
and  "  speaking  lies  in  hypocrisy."  1  Tim.  iv.  1-3.  It  is  a 
yoke  upon  men's  consciences  and  instincts,  both  cruel  and 
wicked,  and  leads  to  many  infamous  and  unnatural  crimes,  of 
which  we  have  abundant  examples  in  the  societies  and  orders 
of  men  and  women  who  have  undertaken  to  live  as  celibates  ; 
and  in  no  sects  of  religionists  do  the  evils  appear  more  glaring 
than  in  that  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  throuo^hout  all  the  differ- 


THE   INSTITUTION   OF   MAKKIAGE.  23 

ent  communities  of  monks,  and  nuns,  and  orders  of  their 
ministry,  from  tlie  highest  dignitary  to  the  lo^vest,  from  the 
time  celibacy  began  to  be  practiced  by  them  ;  especially  froln 
the  decree  of  Gregory  YII.,  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  seventh 
century,  when  the  whole  priesthood  were  forced  into  it. 

Marriage  consists  in  the  union  of  one  man  with  one  woman, 
the  original  marriage  of  our  first  parents  being  the  pattern  of 
all  that  should  follow.  Gen.  ii.  18  ;  Matt  xix.  1-8 ;  Mai,  ii.  15 ; 
1  Cor.  vii.  2 ;  Mark  x.  5-9. 

Of  this  union  the  husband  is  the  head,  because  created  first. 
Gen.  ii  7;  1  Tim.  ii.  13 ;  1  Cor.  xi.  3  ;  1  Pet.  iii.  6.  And  the 
woman,  created  out  of  the  man  (Gen.  ii.  21-2i  ;  1  Cor.  xi.  Y,  8) ; 
and  for  the  m.an  (1  Cor.  xi.  9) ;  is  the  weaker  vessel,  (1  Tim.  ii.  14 ; 
1  Pet.  iii.  7 ;  Eph.  v.  23,)  and  by  express  commandment  sub- 
jected to  her  husband  (Gen.  iii.  16 ;  1  Cor.  xiv,  34,  35  ;  l^umb. 
XXX.  1-16;  1  Tim.  ii.  11,  12;  Eph.  v.  22-24 ;  Col.  iii.  18; 
1  Pet.  iii.  1-6  ;  Titus  ii.  5) ;  to  whom  her  milder  labors  of  Jife 
are  assigned.  (1  Tim.  v.  14 ;  Gen.  xviii.  6-9 ;  Prov.  xxxi. 
10-31 ;  Titus  ii.  3-5.) 

It  is  the  most  tender,  perfect,  and  intimate  union  formed 
among  mortals,  vrhich  appears  from  the  peculiar  manner  of 
Eve's  creation,  which,  it  seems,  was  designed  to  enforce  this 
conception  of  it  (Gen.  ii.  21-24) ;  from  Adam's  reception  of 
Eve  fi'om  the  hand  of  God,  and  His  pronouncing  them  one 
flesh  (Eph.  V.  28,  29) ;  from  the  union  being  voluntary,  and 
founded  upon  a  mutual  esteem  and  afi"ection,  far  superior  to 
that  entertained  for  any  other  individual  on  earth  besides ; 
resulting  in  an  inalienable  right  in,  and  possession  of  each 
other's  persons,  and  of  each  other's  services  and  property,  for 
mutual  enjoyment,  comfort,  and  support,  while  spared  together 
in  life;  Gen.  xxiv.  58,  67;  ii.  22-24;  Eph.  v.  25,  28;  Col. 
iii.  19  ;  1  Pet.  iii.  7  ;  1  Cor.  vii.  3-5  ;  Prov.  v.  15-23  ;  Eccl. 
ix.  9  ;  Mai.  ii.  14 ;  Sol.  Song  viii.  6,7;  1  Tim.  v.  8 ;  Prov. 
xxxi.  10-31  ;  and,  above  all,  from  the  union  being  likened  unto] 
the  mysterious,  the  wonderful,  the  tender,  the  merciful  and 
gracious  union  which  oar  Lord  Jesus  Christ  maintains  with 
His  Church.  Eph  v.  22,  23  ;  Isa.  liv.  5,  6  ;  Jer.  iii.  14  ;  Ezek. 
xvi.  8-13  ;  Hos.  ii.  19. 


24  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   CIIUECH    OF    GOD. 

Marriage  endures  for  life.  By  the  very  nature  of  the  union 
itself,  being  that  of  affection,  devotion,  consecration  to  each 
other ;  i  Cor.  vii.  3,  4 ;  Gen.  ii.  23-24 ;  and  by  the  assertions 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  1  Cor.  vii.  39  ;  Eom.  vii.  2  ;  and  by  all 
the  endearing  consequences  of  children,  and  the  responsibili- 
ties of  their  support  and  education  and  settlement  in  life, 
i  Tim.  v.  8  ;  Gen.  xxx.  30  ;  2  Cor.  xii.  14  ;  Gen.  xxiv.  35,  36  ; 
xxxi.  15,  16  ;  Pro  v.  xiii.  22  ;  xix.  14  ;  1  Thess.  ii.  11 ;  Eph.  vi. 
4 ;  it  admits  of  no  dissolution,  except  by  the  hand  of  God  in 
death,  or  the  transgression  of  the  covenant  on  the  part  of  eitlier 
the  husband  or  wife,  by  overt  acts  of  infidelity,  or  by  volun- 
tary, obstinate,  and  hopeless  abandonment  one  of  the  other, 
which  is  considered  as  identical  with  infidelity.  Gen.  xxiii. 
1-3 ;  XXV.  1  ;  Matt.  v.  31,  32  ;  xix.  0  ;  Eom.  vii.  2,  3  ;  1  Cor. 
vii.  10-15,  39.  Once  formed  however,  aside  from  these  just 
causes  of  dissolution,  no  powers  vested  in  or  assumed  by  men, 
either  in  Church  or  State,  can  put  asunder  those  whom  "  God 
has  joined."  ]^or  can  any  reason  which  may  be  urged  from 
difference  of  age,  or  standing,  or  from  contrariety  of  temper, 
or  intemperance,  or  feebleness  of  health,  or  loss  of  reason,  or 
for  unbelief,  or  heresy,  or  schism,  or  diversity  of  faith,  ever  be 
admitted  to  effect  a  dissolution.     Matt.  xix.  6 ;  1  Cor.  vii.  12, 13. 

Tet  is  marriage  obligatory  on  none  but  those  to  whom  it  is 
given,  and  who  would  not  remain  in  a  single  state.  Matt.  xix. 
11,  12;  V.  28  ;  1  Cor.  vii.  2-9,  17;  vi.  15-20;  ix.  5;  Prov.  v. 
15-23 ;  xviii.  22 ;  xix.  14 ;  Eph.  v.  22-33 ;  1  Tim.  v.  14 ; 
1  Thess.  iv.  3-5. 

It  is  supposed  by  some  that  the  Apostle  Paul  discourages 
marriage  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  1  Corinthians,  vss.  25-40. 
But  it  is  an  error.  The  26th  verse  is  the  key  to  his  meaning 
throughout  the  passage.  "  I  suppose  therefore,  that  this  is  good 
for  the  present  distress  ;  I  say,  that  it  is  good  for  a  man  so  to  be." 
The  necessities  and  afflictions  then  present  with  Christians 
rendered  the  married  state  one  of  care  and  distress  and  dis- 
traction, and  therefore  that  state  might  not  be  entered  into,  or 
might  be  postponed  during  such  times.  Yet,  to  marry  under 
such  circumstances,  he  says,  is  "  no  sin,"  vs.  28,  and  is  even 
"  doing  well,"  vs.  38.     He  argues   not   against   marriage,  ot 


THE  INSTITUTION   OF   MARRIAGE.  25 

wliicli  God  is  tlie  autlior,  and  whicli  elsewhere  lie  pronounces 
"honorable  in  all,"  Heb.  xiii.  4;  but  is  desirous  of  sparing  the 
brethren  who  marry  in  distressing  times,  "  trouble  in  the 
flesh."  Ys.  28. 

And  the  relation  should  be  entered  into  considerately,  re- 
spect being  had  to  the  wishes  of  parents,  the  laws  of  God,  and 
of  the  State ;  JSTumb.  xxx.  3-6  ;  comp.  1  Cor.  vii.  36,  37 ;  Exod. 
XX.  12:  Eph.  vi.  1-4;  Cob  iii.  20;  Gen.  xxiv.  50-58;  xxvii. 
46 ;  xxvi.  34,  35 ;  xxviii.  6-9  ;  and  within  the  allowed  degrees 
of  consanguinity  and  affinity. 

The  marriages  of  men,  immediately  after  the  creation  and 
the  flood,  were  necessarily  with  the  members  of  their  own  im- 
mediate families  ;  but  it  may  well  be  supposed  that,  as  popula- 
tion increased,  these  family  marriages  would,  measurably  at  least, 
cease  with  the  necessity  which  created  them ;  nor  is  there  any 
law  of  God  revealed  in  Scripture,  regulating  the  degrees  of  con- 
sanguinity and  aflinity  within  which  marriages  might  be  con- 
tracted, previous  to  that  promulgated  at  Mount  Sinai  through 
Moses,  found  in  the  18th  and  20th  chapters  of  Leviticus.  The 
only  regulation  concerning  marriage,  prior  to  this  law,  Avas 
ordained  after  the  visible  Church  was  set  up  in  Abraham,  and 
required  a  man  to  marry  his  deceased  brother's  wife,  and  so  "to 
raise  up  seed  to  his  brother  ;"  to  the  end,  as  it  was  afterwards 
expressed,  that  his  name  be  not  put  out  of  Israel.  Dent.  xxv. 
5-10 ;  Gen.  xxxviii.  1-11.  This  regulation  extended  beyond 
the  husband's  brother  to  the  nearest  kinsman,  having  the  right 
of  redemption.  Ruth  iii.  12,  13  ;  iv.  5-10.  The  reason  and 
design  of  it  were  to  preserve  distinct  the  families  of  the  de- 
scendants of  Abraham,  and  so  render  perfect  and  clear  the 
genealogy  of  our  Lord,  and  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise  that 
He  should  be  of  the  seed  of  Abraham. 

In  the  law  regulating  marriages,  given  to  the  Church  of  God 
in  Levit.  18th  and  20th  chapters,  two  lines  of  connection  are 
indicated ;  the  first  by  consanguinity,  and  tlie  second  by  affin- 
ity. We  are  not  permitted  to  adopt  the  line  of  consanguinity 
and  to  reject  that  of  affinity.  Both  must  go  together.  The 
lines  of  consanguinity  and  affinity  run  parallel  throughout,  and 
establish  the  rule  that  a  man  may  not  marry  any  of  his  wife's 


26  THE   HISTOET   OF   THE    CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

relations,  nearer  of  kin  than  he  may  of  his  own ;  and  the 
same  rule  applies  also  to  the  wife.  The  only  exception 
allowed  is  that  of  the  marriage  of  a  brother's  widow  :  a  custom 
existing  before  Moses,  as  we  have  already  shown,  and  for  a 
specific  pm-pose,  and  for  no  other,  "  that  he  raise  up  seed  to 
his  brother."  Tlie  Messiah  having  come,  and  the  genealogical 
records  having  accomplished  their  end,  there  is  no  longer  any 
necessity  for  this  exception.  The  unlawfulness  of  marrying 
a  brother's  widow,  or,  which  involves  a  breach  of  the  same  law, 
of  marrying  a  deceased  wife's  sister,  remains ;  and  this  law  reg- 
ulating marriages  forms  no  part  of  the  ceremonial  laws  insti- 
tuted by  Moses,  but  is  wholly  moral  in  its  origin  and  design, 
which  were  to  preserve  the  people  of  God  from  the  corrupt  prac- 
tices of  the  heathen,  as  expressly  stated  in  Levit.  xviii.  24-30 
and  XX.  22,  23 ;  and  to  furnish  the  Church  in  all  ages  with  a 
law  regulating  a  matter  of  so  g;reat  importance,  which  other- 
wise would  have  been  left  in  confusion  and  perplexity.  In 
this  light  is  the  law  interpreted  and  applied  in  the  JSew  Test- 
ament, and  is  thereby  acknowledged  and  established  as  the 
law  of  the  Church  under  the  I^ew  as  well  as  the  Old  Dispensa- 
tion. The  reference  made  is  by  the  Apostle  Paul  in  1  Cor.  v.  1. 
He  brands  the  connection,  the  marriage  of  a  son  with  a  step- 
mother, as  incest,  and  says  it  is  such  incest  "  as  is  not  so  much 
as  named  among  the  Gentiles,"  and  condemns  the  transgressor 
to  excommunication!  verses  2-5.  By  what  law?  The  law  of 
nature  ?  Naj,  verily,  but  by  tlie  law  of  God,  given  to  His 
Church  ages  before.  The  prohibition  of  this  very  connection 
is  found  in  Levit.  xviii.  8,  and  xx.  11;  and  moreover  this  very 
case  is  singled  out  and  cursed  in  the  curses  afterwards  to  be 
uttered  from  Mount  Ebal.  Deut.  xxvii.  20.  If  the  law  in  Le- 
viticus is  not  the  law  of  God's  Church,  then  has  the  Church 
no  law  at  all  upon  so  important  a  matter  !  And  who  can  give  a 
reason  w^hy  the  Lord  should  give  a  law  regulating  marriage  to 
His  Church  of  old,  and  of  authority  for  centuries,  and  a  law  to 
distinguish  His  people  from  the  heathen,  and  to  preserve  them 
from  their  pollutions,  and  now,  in  these  latter  days  of  brighter 
glory  and  perfection  in  that  Church,  that  that  law  should  be 
set  aside  !    The  propriety  and  necessity  of  the  law  are  as  strong 


THE   INSTITUTION   OF   MAEKIAGE.  27 

as  ever.  The  Chm-ch  under  the  Old  and  the  New  Dispensation 
is  one  and  the  same,  and  this  law  once  given  has  never  been 
repealed,  but  confirmed  by  an  Apostle,  and  consequently  re- 
mains in  force. 

The  design  of  marriage  is  to  promote  the  comfort  and  hap- 
piness of  mankind,  the  legitimate  propagation  of  our  species, 
the  perpetuation  of  a  pure,  holy,  and  honorable  seed  in  the 
Church,  and  purity  of  life  and  manners  on  the  earth.  Deut. 
xxxii.  2 ;  Gen.  ii.  18 ;  1  Cor.  vii.  14 ;  Gen.  xvii.  1-27 ;  Mai.  ii. 
15 ;  Matt.  xix.  14;  Ps.  cxxvii.  and  cxxviii ;  Gen.  vi.  1-13 ;  xix. 
1-26  ;  Jude  vii. ;  Numb.  xxv.  1-8  ;  Levit.  xviii.  1-5,  24,  30 ; 
XX.  22,  23;  xv.  1-18  ;  Ezra  ix.  and  xL  ;  Neh.  xiii.  24-27; 
Kom.  i.  21-32 ;  1  Cor.  vi.  9-20 ;  v.  9-11 ;  Gal.  v.  19-21 ;  Eph. 
V.  3-6  ,  1  Tim.  i.  9,  10  ;  Heb.  xii.  15-17  ;  xiii.  4 ;  Eev.  xxi.  8  ; 
xxii.  15  ;  Jer.  v.  7-9. 

Nor  is  marriage  a  sacrament,  as  is  asserted  by  the  Eoman 
Catholics.  "  A  sacrament  is  a  holy  ordinance  instituted  by 
Christ  in  His  Church,  wherein,  by  sensible  signs,  Christ  and 
the  benefits  of  the  new  covenant  are  represented,  sealed,  and 
applied  to  believers,"  and  consequently  consists  of  two  parts  : 
the  one,  the  outward  sensible  signs ;  and  the  other,  tlie  inward 
spiritual  things  represented,  sealed,  and  applied  thereby.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Scriptures,  the  reply  of  Protestants  is,  that  in 
no  conceivable  sense  is  matrimony  a  sacrament ;  for,  altliougli 
a  divine  institution,  that  does  not  make  it  a  sacrament  any 
more  than  the  Sabbath  being  a  divine  institution  makes  it  a 
sacrament. 

A  sacrament  is  instituted  within  and  for  the  Church  alone, 
and  distinguishes  the  Cliurch  from  the  world ;  but  matrimony 
is  common  to  all  men,  to  believers  and  unbelievers.  A  sacra- 
ment necessarily  has  an  outward  visible  sign  of  some  inward 
grace  promised.     Matrimony  has  neither  the  one  nor  the  other. 

A  sacrament  is  a  spiritual  ordinance  wherein  Christ  and  the 
benefits  of  the  new  covenant  ai;e  represented,  sealed,  and  ap- 
plied to  believers;  and  this  is  the  design  of  a  sacrament 
Matrimony  is  not  in  this  sense  a  spiritual  ordinance.  It  repre- 
sents nothing  of  Christ  or  the  new  covenant,  and  it  is  expressly 
designed  for  the  increase,  purity,  and  happiness  of  the  human 


28  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

race.  In  Eph.  v.  22,  23,  the  Apostle  institutes  a  comparison 
between  tlie  union  of  husband  and  wife,  and  the  union  be- 
tween Christ  and  the  Church,  and  argues  from  the  one  to  the 
other  in  enforcing  the  obligations  and  duties  mutually  devolv- 
ing upon  husbands  and  wives.  But  Christ  does  not  make  mar- 
riage a  sacrament,  any  more  than  he  makes  a  vine  a  sacrament, 
when  He  affirms,  "I  am  the  vine,  ye  are  the  branches,"  &c. 
John  XV.  1-6  ;  or  a  door,  when  He  affirms,  "  I  am  the  door  ;" 
and  the  like  may  be  said  of  other  comparisons  and  similitudes. 
Whatever  represents  a  sacred  thing  is  not  therefore  a  sacra- 
ment. And  when  the  Apostle  says,  "  This  is  a  great  mysterj^," 
he  explains  himself:  "  but  I  speak  concerning  Christ  and  the 
Church."  The  mystery,  so  wonderful  and  gracious,  is  not  in 
marriage,  but  in  Christ  spiritually  taking  believers  into  a 
union  so  intimate  that  they  may  be  said  to  be  partakers  of  His 
body,  of  His  flesh,  and  of  His -bones,  and  so  become  one  flesh 
with  Him. 

A  sacrament  is  such  an  ordinance  as  is  applicable  unto,  and 
may  be  partaken  of,  by  all  men.  But  marriage  is  not ;  and 
the  errorists,  after  making  it  a  sacrament,  "  absurdly  exclude 
their  priests  from  it,"  and  "  stigmatize  it  with  the  character  of 
impurity,  pollution,  and  carnal  defilement."  A  sacrament  is 
defined  in  all  its  parts,  and  uses,  and  ends,  which  men  are 
neither  to  add  unto  nor  to  take  from,  and  which  may  be  ad- 
ministered at  all  times  and  seasons,  whenever  called  for  by  the 
people  of  God.  But  the  errorists,  having  made  matrimony  a 
sacrament,  affirming  that  it  never  was  a  sacrament  under  the 
Old  Dispensation,  but  only  under  the  l!^ew,  have  taken  it  iuiqui- 
tously  under  their  control  as  purely  a  spiritual  matter  with 
which  secular  power  has  nothing  to  do  ;  for  which  they  have 
made  laws  regulating  what  are,  and  what  are  not  lawful  mar- 
riages, altering  the  degrees  within  which  marriage  may  be 
contracted  as  set  down  in  the  Scriptures,  and  granting  the 
solemnization  of  marriage  onjy  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year, 
except  by  dispensation,  and  affirming  that  persons  lawfully 
divorced  cannot  marry  again,  and  that  priests  and  persons  in 
sacred  orders  shall  not  marry  at  all,  and  enjoining  many  other 
burdens  upon  those  who  would  enter  into  that  state. 


EDEN,    AND   THE   COVENANT   OF   WOKKS.  29 


CHAPTEK  III. 

EDEN,    AND   THE   COVENANT  OF   W0EK3. 

To  Adam  and  Eve,  and  to  every  beast  of  the  earth,  and  to 
every  fowl  of  the  air,  and  to  every  thing  that  creepeth  upon 
the  earth,  (Gen.  i.  29,  30,)  was  the  grant  made  of  the  fruits, 
grains,  and  green  herbs  of  the  earth,  for  food ;  and  into  a  gar- 
den of  abnndance,  of  beanty,  and  delight,  the  Lord  God  intro- 
duced the  perfect  and  happy  pair — a  garden  typical  of  that 
Heaven  to  which  they  were  to  aspire — situated  east  of  the 
Promised  Land,  but  whose  particular  locality  is  more  a  matter 
of  curiosity  than  value,  and  may  never  be  accurately  deter- 
mined. Luke  xxiii.  43;  2  Cor.  xii.  2-4;  Kev.  ii.  7;  xsii.  1-5. 
Here  the  Lord  assigns  Adam  his  occupation  and  his  trial. 
His  occupation  w^as  to  dress  and  keep  the  garden  ;  and  his  trial 
was,  "  Of  every  tree  of  the  garden  thou  mayest  freely  eat ; 
but  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  thou  shalt  not 
eat  of  it ;  for  in  the  day  that  thon  eatest  thereof,  thou  shalt 
surely  die."  Yea,  he  was  forbidden  even  to  do  so  much  as  to 
"  touch  it."  Gen.  iii.  2,  3.  By  the  very  conditions  of  his  ori- 
gin and  existence,  he  was  under  obligations  of  supreme  love 
and  obedience  to  God  his  creator,  preserver,  and  benefactor. 
And  in  His  sovereign  pleasure,  God  put  him  upon  the  trial, 
whether  he  would  fulfil  these  obligations  or  not,  and  this  pro- 
hibitory command  covered  over  the  love  and  obedience  which 
he  owed  to  God  in  all  things  and  forever. 

"  The  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  of  evil,"  was  the 
sign  of  God's  sovereignty  over  man,  and  of  man's  subjection 


30  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

and  obligation  to  a  perfect  and  unending  obedience ;  that 
his  happiness  was  laid  up  in  God,  and  could  flow  to  him  in 
sweet  streams  only  through  His  favor  ;  and  that  his  state 
was  now  imperfect  and  incomplete,  and  would  continue  so 
to  be,  until  his  trial  should  have  been  successfully  en- 
dured. Of  all  this  he  was  reminded  as  oft  as  he  looked  upon 
the  tree,  and  the  remembrance  would  act  as  an  incentive  to 
duty.  Should  he  renounce  his  God,  disobe}^,  and  eat,  then 
would  he  experience  the  evil  threatened,  which  was  "  death," 
Should  he  cleave  in  holy  love  and  obedience  to  God,  and  eat 
not,  then  would  he  experience  "good."  As  punishment  is 
threatened  for  disobedience,  so  by  implication  reward  is 
promised  to  obedience.  The  punishment  being  "  death,"  the 
reward  must  be  "  life."  The  Lord  God  set  before  our  first 
parents  life  and  death,  happiness  and  misery.  What  had  been 
already  done  in  a  way  of  trial  with  the  angels  in  Heaven,  is 
now  done  with  man  on  earth. 

The  tree  of  life,  of  which  he  was  permitted  freely  to  eat 
while  he  was  in  a  state  of  innocency,  was  a  sign  and  seal  of 
the  promised  reward  of  eternal  life,  which  should  be  given  him 
when  his  trial  should  be  over,  in  Heaven,  the  paradise  above. 
Rev.  ii.  7;  xxii.  2,  14.  And  for  this  reason  it  was  called 
the  "tree  of  life,"  and  not  because  it  contained  in  itself  any 
power  of  perpetuating  life  in  man.  The  passage  (Gen.  iii,  22) : 
"  Behold,  the  man  is  become  as  one  of  us,  to  know  good  and 
evil ;  and  now,  lest  he  put  forth  his  hand,  and  take  also  of  the 
tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live  forever,"  &c.,  is  not  so  to  be  under- 
stood. But,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  to  be  understood  as  a  prohi- 
bition against  his  remaining  longer  in  the  garden,  and  eating 
of  that  tree,  the  sign  and  seal  of  that  eternal  life  which  he  had 
forfeited  by  his  transgression.  He  had  no  further  any  right 
to  eat  of  it,  and  "  therefore  the  Lord  God  sent  him  forth  from 
the  garden." 

Brought  into  the  world,  man  is  not  turned  loose  to  follow 
the  instincts  of  his  animal  nature,  like  the  brutes  that  perish ; 
but  (Job  XXXV.  10,  11)  is  endowed  with  another,  a  higher, 
even  a  spiritual  nature,  and  is  created  for  higher  purposes,  and 
a  more  glorious  destiny.    Job  xxxii.  8.     His  chief  end  is  "  to 


EDEN,    AND   THE   COVENANT   OF   WOKKS.  31 

glorify  God  and  to  enjoy  Him  forever; "  and  no  sooner  does  he 
begin  liis  existence,  than  he  is  set  forward  in  a  course  for  the 
attainment  of  this  end  by  his  Heavenly  Father, 

This  special  dealing  of  God  with  n\an  in  Eden  deserves 
special  consideration ;  for  it  lies  at  the  foundation  of  his  spir- 
itual history,  and  runs  through  the  entire  history  of  the 
Church. 

The  following  facts  are  evident :  God  having  a  right  to  do 
what  He  would  with  His  own,  in  His  infinite  wisdom  and 
goodness,  and  for  His  own  glory,  placed  our  first  parents  upon 
trial  under  a  positiv^e  command,  and  required  no  formal  assent 
to  it  on  their  part,  for  the  will  of  the  creator  is  the  law  of  the 
creature,  and  their  upright  natures  taught  them  so.  Psalms  95, 
96,  and  97.  The  trial  under  one  commandment  was  really  a 
trial  under  all.  Obedience  to  one  included  obedience  to  all, 
for  the  duties  of  our  first  parents  began  with  their  existence 
and  embraced  both  tables  of  the  law,  so  that,  prior  to  God's 
giving  them  the  positive  command,  they  were  bound  to  keep 
the  whole  law  written  upon  their  hearts. 

To  this  command  a  threatening  or  penalty  was  attached, 
and  a  promise  of  reward  implied,  according  to  the  rule  of 
interpreting  Scripture,  when  tlireatenings  are  expressed,  prom- 
ises are  implied,  and  where  promises  are  expressed,  threaten- 
ings  are  implied,  and  so  read  Eom.  ii.  G  -9,  and  Gal.  iii.  10,  11 ; 
and  a  condition  required  on  the  part  of  man  for  insuring  the 
reward,  which  was  perfect  obedience.  This  trial  was  for  a 
given  time  only,  although  the  precise  length  of  it  is  not  stated, 
and  the  final  reward  or  punishment  was  to  be  in  eternity, 
which  we  infer  from  what  has  taken  place  since  man's  fall. 
Man  fell,  and  he  now  goes  out  of  this  world  into  another  for 
his  final  and  full  measure  of  punisliment.  Had  he  stood,  he 
would  have  gone  out  of  this  world  for  his  full  and  final  meas- 
ure of  reward.  This  is  confirmed  also  by  the  fact,  that  Para- 
dise was  a  type  of  Heaven;  and  again  by  the  fact  that  the  hap- 
piness of  the  creature  is  to  be  with  God,  Avhere  He  is,  and  that 
is  not  in  this  world. 

These  are  the  facts  :  and  now  what  is  this  "  death  " — the 
penalty  tlireatened  ?     The  terra  is  a  general  one,  and  in  Scrip- 


32  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

ture  embraces  every  tiling  of  the  nature  of  punishment  for  sin, 
■which  is  to  be  executed  upon  the  whole  man,  body  and  soul ; 
and  to  reach  him  in  all  his  existence,  and  in  all  places  where 
he  may  be  found. 

Man  did  transgress,  and  by  following  his  history  we  learn 
that  this  ''  death  " — the  wages  of  sin — was  temporal  death,  and 
eternal  life  parted  fi'om  that  body  so  fearfully  and  wonderfully 
made.  Ps.  cxxxix.  14.  The  body  became  mortal.  The  seeds 
of  death  were  implanted  in  it,  and  from  that  moment  of  trans- 
gression it  began  its  march  to  the  grave,  although  it  was  nine 
hundred  years  before  it  reached  it,  in  order  to  return  to  the 
inanimate  and  formless  dust  from  whence  it  was  taken.  Gen. 
iii.  19.  Death  was  visited  upon  all  Adam's  posterity:  "for 
in  Adam  all  die,"  1  Cor.  xv.  22  ;  Job  iv.  19  ;  xvii.  13-16 ;  xix. 
26;  xxi.  20;  xxxiv.  15;  Gen.  xxiii.  4;  Prov.  iii.  20;  xii.  7; 
Eora.  V,  12-21 ;  1  Cor.  xv.  42-58. 

And  it  was  also  spiritual  death— not  the  death  of  the  spirit 
or  soul  of  man  :  for  by  the  will  of  God  that  is  immortal ;  but 
its  utter  moral  and  spiritual  ruin,  and  the  permanent  corrup- 
tion of  its  whole  nature.  Its  life,  which  consisted  in  knowl- 
edge, righteousness,  and  true  holiness,  and  happy  communion 
with  God,  is  totally  lost.  John  iii.  6  ;  Gen.  vi.  5  ;  Ps.  xiv.  2-3 
Rom.  1st  and  2d  chapters ;  Job  xiv.  4 ;  xv.  14-16 ;  Ps.  li.  1-12 
Rom.  viii.  5-8,  13 ;  vii.  5-25  ;  1  Cor.  ii.  14 ;  Gal.  v.  16-26 
Eph.  ii.  1-3  ;  Jer.  xvii.  9  ;  Matt.  xv.  17-20.  The  undnstand- 
ing,  in  its  original  strength,  clearness,  purity,  and  rectitude,  be- 
came weakened  and  vitiated,  blind  and  darkened  in  respect  to 
God,  and  wholly  incapable  of  any  spiritual  discernment  of  spir- 
itual things.  Rom.  i.  21-25;  1  Cor.  ii.  14;  Eph.  i.  18;  Acts 
xxvi.  17-18  ;  1  Cor.  ii.  9-10;  2  Cor.  iv.  6  ;  Ps.  xiv.  2 ;  xix.  12 ; 
Luke  xxiv.  45  ;  John  viii.  43  ;  Prov.  iii.  5 ;  Col.  i.  9  ;  2  Tim. 
ii.  7. 

The  heart  became  earthly,  sensual,  devilish,  and  altogether 
estranged  from  God,  and  hatefully  rebellious  against  Him;  and 
no  true  and  acceptable  love  to  God  or  man  remained  within  it. 
1  Cor.  vi.  9-10 ;  Gal.  v.  19-21 ;  Col.  iii.  1-10 ;  Matt.  vi.  19-34 ; 
1  John  ii.  15-17 ;  Matt.  xv.  19  ;  John  v.  42  ;  Jer.  xvii.  9-10. 

The  conscience  became  defiled,  seared,  and  weakened.     1 


EDEN,  AKD  THE  COVENANT  OF  WOKKS.  33 

Tim.  iv.  2  ;  Eph.  iv.  18-19  ;  Titus  i.  15  ;  Acts  xxvi.  9-11 ;  John 
xvi.  2 ;    Exod.  xxxvii.  23-25  ;  Matt,  xxvii.  8-S. 

And  the  will,  perverse,  obstinate,  and  fully  set  to  do  evil. 
Eccl.  viii.  15 ;  Acts  vii.  51 ;  Exod.  xxxii.  9  ;  Isa.  xlviii.  4 ; 
Exod.  V.  2-9 ;  34,  35  ;  Ps.  Ixxviii.  8  ;  xcv.  8  ;  Matt,  xxiii.  37  ; 
John  V.  40  ;  iii.  19-20 ;  Matt.  xxii.  1-3 ;  Jer.  v.  3 ;  xvii.  23 ; 
I^eh.  ix.  29  ;  Zach.  vii.  11-12.  This  spiritual  death  is  so 
universal  in  the  soul  that  it  pervades  every  faculty ;  and  so 
entire,  that  nothing  remains  either  in  nature,  or  in  thought,  or 
in  feeling,  or  action,  that  is  truly  agreeable  to  the  will  of  God. 
He  who  knows  what  is  in  man  so  testifies  of  his  spiritual  death, 
and  with  His  testimony  the  experience  of  Christians,  and  the 
character  and  conduct  of  men  in  all  ages  and  in  all  nations  of 
the  world,  have  faithfully  liarmonized.  Gen.  vi.  11-12 ;  Ps. 
xiv.  1-3  ;  Isa.  lix.  3-4 ;  Micah.  vii.  2-4 ;  Eom.  1st,  2d  and  3d 
chapters ;  Titus  iii.  3. 

And  it  was  eternal  death.  ISTot  that  soul  and  body  die 
eternally,  but  they  are  condemned  to  a  punishment  for  sin 
which  God  has  made  eternal  in  duration.  Matt.  xxv.  31-46  ; 
iii.  12 ;  2  Pet.  iii.  8-12 ;  Eev.  xx.  11-15  ;  Eom.  vi.  21-23.  In 
the  world  to  come,  and  at  the  time  appointed,  and  the  place 
prepared,  God  will  inflict  this  eternal  punishment  upon  the 
transgressors.  Jude  vs.  C-7 ;  Jas.  iv.  12;  Eev.  xxi.  8-27.  So 
soon'as  Adam  sinned,  he  was  legally  dead  and  obnoxious  to 
this  wrath,  and  only  waited  its  infliction  according  to  the  good 
pleasure  of  God.  The  Scriptm-es  everywhere  interj^ret  death 
in  the  sense  now  given.  Ezek,  iii.  18-20;  xviii.,  4,  32;  xxxiii. 
8-14;  Eom.  i.  32;  vi.  23;  1  Cor.  xv.  50;  Gal.  iii.  IG;  Eph. 
ii.  1-6. 

The  reward  of  life  promised  was  the  opposite  of  death,  and 
consequently  included  the  life  of  the  body ; — for,  had  our  first 
parents  maintained  their  integrity,  they  would  never  have 
known  disease,  or  death,  but  perfect  health  and  physical  hap- 
piness would  have  been  their  reward :  and,  at  the  appointed 
hour  of  their  departure  out  of  the  Avorld  to  enter  upon  the 
glory  and  rewards  of  the  paradise  of  heaven,  their  bodies  of 
flesh  and  blood,  without  pain  or  distress,  would  have  undergone 
a  change  most  glorious  in  its  nature,  and  which  would  have 
3 


iA  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

fitted  them  for  a  new  and  spiritual  state  of  existence.  1  Cor. 
XV.  50 ;  Matt.  xxii.  30 ;  Gen.  v.  24 ;  Heb.  xi.  5. 

This  reward  also  included  the  life  of  the  soul,  in  possession 
of  a  pure  and  holy  nature,  and  of  a  free,  happy  exercise  of 
all  its  faculties  in  the  love  of  God  and  of  man,  together 
with  a  constant  advance  in  knowledge,  holiness,  and  happi- 
ness :  and,  finally,  a  removal  from  happiness  on  eartli  to 
glory  unspeakable  in  Heaven.  This  was  the  final  reward 
which  God  in  His  goodness  was  pleased  to  annex  to  the 
obedience  of  man  :  in  a  word,  the  fruition  of  God.  "  In  thy 
presence  is  fulness  of  joy ;  at  thy  right  hand  are  pleasures 
for  evermore."  Ps.  xvi.  11 ;  Kom.  x.  4-10;  i.  16,  IT;  GaL  iii. 
8-14. 

And  what  is  the  obedience  required  of  man  to  ensure  this 
reward  ?  'Not  only  special  obedience  to  the  one  command,  but 
universal  obedience  to  all  tlie  commands  of  God,  Gal.  iii.  12. 
Comp.  Gen.  ii.  17;  GaL  iii.  14-19,  21,  22;  Matt.  xxii.  36-40; 
Rom.  ii.  12-15  ;  Gen.  iii.  15  ;  Eom.  vii.  10  ;  viii.  3  ;  v.  12-14 ; 
1  Pet.  iii.  4 ;  Pom.  vi.  23 ;  Jas.  ii.  10,  11 ;  and  an  .obedience 
perfect  and  perpetual  to  the  end  of  his  trial :  even  the  obedi- 
ence for  justification  under  the  law,  as  described  in  tlie  Word 
of  God.  Lev.  xviii.  5 ;  Eom.  x.  4,  5 ;  Dent,  xxvii.  26 ;  Gal. 
iii.  10-12 ;  Neh.  ix.  29  ;  Luke  x.  25-28 ;  Matt.  xxii.  37-40 ; 
Mark  xii.  23-34.  This  obedience  Adam  was  able  to  re^ader  : 
he  was  able  to  stand,  yet  free  to  fall,  so  that  his  further  destiny 
was  put  in  his  own  power.  Let  it  here  be  noted,  however,  that 
as  the  creature  can  never  lay  the  infinite  Creator  under  obliga- 
tions, so  the  eternal  life  promised  Adam  was  not  of  the  nature 
of  a  reward  of  his  merit,  but  of  the  nature  of  an  inestimable 
gift — a  superadded  blessing  flowing  from  the  good  pleasure 
and  bounty  of  the  Lord.  The  Lord  made  Himself  a  debtor  to 
Adam,  so  that  in  case  of  obedience  he  could  claim  the  re- 
ward as  a  right,  a  debt  due  to  him  imder  God's  own  gracious 
promise.     Rom.  iv.  4  and  xi.  34-36 ;  Luke  xvii.  10. 

But  a  question  vital  to  the  history  of  the  Church  remains, 
namely  :  AVhat  position  did  our  progenitor  occupy  under  his 
trial  ?  Did  he  stand  for  himself  alone,  or,  as  the  first  and  head 
■  of  his  race,  for  all  who  should  naturally  descend  from  him? 


EDEN,    AND   THE   COVENANT   OF  AVOKKS.  35 

He  stood,  or,  in  other  words,  was  constituted  bj  his  Creator 
the  federal  head  and  representative  of  his  race.  The  proof  of 
this  is  clear.  In  the  first  place,  God  dealt  with  him  in  all 
other  respects  as  the  head  of  his  race.  He  was  the  father  of 
all,  for  all  flesh  derived  existence  from  him.  The  institutions 
of  marriage  and  of  the  Sabbath  were  given  him  as  the  head  of 
the  race ;  so  also  was  his  dominion  over  the  world.  Analogy 
also  speaks  :  for  birds,  beasts,  and  fishes,  all  plants  and  trees,  in 
their  original  creation,  were  heads  and  representatives  of  their 
respective  races  and  species.  In  the  second  place,  the  treat- 
ment Adam  experienced  after  the  fidl  proves  it.  The  curse 
upon  the  woman  fell  upon  her  as  the  representative  of  the 
race,  and  has  descended  upon  all  her  daughters,  without  an  ex- 
ception. The  curse  of  labor  has  fallen  upon  all  Adam's  sons. 
The  curse  on  the  serpent  abides  unbroken.  The  enmity  be- 
tween him  and  the  seed  of  the  woman  continues  as  it  was  in 
the  beginning.  The  expulsion  from  Eden  was  the  shutting 
out  of  the  whole  race  from  the  presence  and  favor  of  God,  and 
it  has  never  been  revised.  In  the  third  place,  the  actual  and 
permanent  effects  of  his  fall  upon  Adam's  posterity,  prove  it. 
They  followed  his  fortunes,  and  inherited  his  depraved  nature, 
and  all  the  bitter  consequences  of  sin.  They  have  labor,  sor- 
rows, and  death  temporal,  spiritual,  and  eternal !  In  the 
fourth  place,  Adam  is  declared  by  God  Himself  in  this  trans- 
action to  be  the  head  and  representative  of  his  race.  E.om.  v. 
12-19 ;  1  Cor.  xv.  21-22  ;  45-50.  And  in  the  fifth  place,  the 
whole  work  of  Christ,  and  plan  of  redemption,  proceed  upon 
the  federal  headship  of  Adam.  Eom.  v.  12-19  ;  Gen.  iii.  15 ; 
Rom.  xi.  32 ;  Gal.  iii.  21,  22. 

Thus  was  Adam  placed  on  trial  as  the  head  and  repre- 
sentative of  his  posterity.  Tliey  being  included  in  his  loins, 
his  obedience  would  be  reckoned  their  obedience,  his  sin 
their  sin.  If  he  lived  they  would  live ;  if  he  died  they  would 
die.  Hence  the  effects  or  consequences  of  Adam's  obedience 
or  disobedience  would  be  implied  unto,  and  be  permanent 
upon  his  posterity.  The  whole  arrangement  resolves  itself 
into  the  sovereign  will  of  God ;  and  the  wisdom,  justice,  and 
benevolence  of  it   admit  of  no  question,  since  God's  way  is 


36  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE    CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

perfect,  and  "  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  will  do  right."  He 
peacefully  reposes  upon  the  infinite  rectitude  of  his  character. 
Matt.  xi.  26  ;  Job.  xi.  7-9  ;  Deut.  xxix.  29  ;  Kom.  iii.  4, 
vii.  12 ;  xi.  32-36  ;  ix.  1-24. 

Eevolve  the  matter  as  long  and  deeply  as  we  may,  it 
,  is  impossible  to  conceive  how  Adam  could  have  been  placed 
in  a  better  condition,  or  nnder  more  favorable  circumstances, 
or  under  better  influences  for  enduring  the  trial.  He  was 
fresh  from  the  hand  of  God :  in  nature,  pure  and  holy,  Eccl. 
vii.  29 ;  Eph.  iv.  24,  and  able  to  obey.  The  command  was 
simple  and  direct.  The  two  trees  were  ever  before  him  as 
signs  and  seals  of  duty  and  reward  ;  and  he  was  in  commu- 
nion with  the  ever-blessed  God  from  day  to  day,  and  was 
aware  also,  through  knovdedge  derived  from  God,  of  the  rela- 
tion in  which  he  stood  to  his  posterity,  and  of  all  the  amazing 
interests  committed  to  his  hand.  "What  trial  could  have  been 
more  fair  and  perfect  ?  As  he  fell,  we  may  reasonably  con- 
clude that  the  result  would  not  have  been  different,  had  each 
one  of  his  posterity  been  placed  in  precisely  the  same  situa- 
tion, and  stood  for  himself  And  it  may  be  added  that  the 
common  sense  and  conscience  of  mankind  assent  to  the  trial 
and  headship  of  Adam,  inasmuch  as,  if  Adam  had  stood,  no 
objections  would  ever  have  been  urged  against  either. 

This  dealing  of  God  with  our  first  parents  in  their  state 
of  innocency,  for  easy  remembrance  and  comprehension,  has 
been  called  "  the  Covenant  of  Works,"  in  contradistinction  to 
God's  dealing  with  them  after  the  fall,  in  their  state  of  sin, 
called  "  the  Covenant  of  Grace."  It  would  appear  that  we 
have  v/arrant  in  Scripture  for  applying  the  term  covenant 
to  this  transaction,  for  Hosea  says,  vi.  7  :  "  But  they,  like  men 
(like  Adam),  have  transgressed  the  covenant."  Corap.  Job. 
xxxi.  34 ;  Ps.  Ixxxii.  7.  And  the  Apostle  Paul  in  Gal.  iv. 
21-31  speaks  of  the  two  covenants — the  covenant  of  works, 
which  includes  all  men  in  bondage,  and  the  covenant  of 
grace,  which  secures  freedom  and  salvation  to  all  who  are  the 
children  of  promise. 

But  this  covenant  is  not  precisely  of  the  nature  of  a  cove- 
nant as  entered  into  by  men  between  themselves ;  for  a  proper 


EDEN,    AND   THE   COVENANT   OF   WORKS.  37 

covenant  among  men  is  a  voluntary  contract  or  agreement 
entered  into  between  two  or  more  parties,  in  which  they 
solemnly  bind  themselves  to  each  other  for  the  performance 
of  certain  things  for  their  mutual  benefit,  under  specified 
penalties  in  case  of  failure,  and  the  covenant  is  established  by 
signs  and  seals.  In  such  a  covenant  it  is  implied  that  the 
parties  are  upon  some  ground  of  equality,  that  they  are  inde- 
pendent of  and  may  be  beneficial  to  each  other,  and  have  the 
power  not  only  to  perform  the  obligations  of  the  covenant,  but 
also  to  inflict  the  penalty  in  case  of  failure.  A  covenant  of 
this  sort  cannot  exist  between  God  and  man,  since  an  infinite 
distance  separates  the  creature  from  the  Creator.  Man  can 
neither  be  independent  of  God  nor  beneficial  to  Him,  nor  can 
he  lay  God  under  any  obligations  or  penalties. 

When  therefore  we  speak  of  this  covenant  of  works,  we 
are  to  conceive  of  it  as  emanating  from  God  in  the  form  of 
a  positive  command  to  His  creature,  to  which  are  annexed  a 
threatening  of  just  punishment  in  case  of  transgression,  and 
also  a  gracious  promise  of  reward  in  case  of  obedience,  and 
the  whole  accompanied  with  signs  and  seals.  With  this  un- 
derstanding, all  the  constituents  of  a  divine  covenant  appear. 
1.  The  contracting  parties — God  and  man.  2.  The  condi- 
tions, on  the  part  of  God,  to  be  in  all  respects  a  God  to  man, 
and,  on  the  part  of  man,  as  His  creatm*e,  to  render  a  perfect 
obedience  to  God.  Matt.  xxii.  37-40  ;  Mark  xii.  29-33. 
3.  The  promise  of  eternal  life.  4.  The  penalty,  or  threaten- 
ing of  eternal  death.  5.  The  signs  and  seals  of  the  covenant, 
— "  the  tree  of  life,"  and  "  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil." 

The  great  end  of  this  covenant  was  the  same  as  in  all 
God's  works — His  own  glory.  The  matter  of  it  was  the 
securing  to  man,  in  the  infinite  benevolence  of  God,  eternal 
happiness.  The  peculiarities  of  the  covenant  are :  1.  Its  ema- 
nation from  God.  2,  His  dealing  with  man  immediately  and 
personally,  without  the  intervention  of  any  third  person  or 
mediator.  3.  The  condition  upon  which  lie  was  to  secure 
eternal  life,  his  own  works  or  individual  righteousness.  4.  The 
appointment  of  Adam  to  stand  as  the  head  and  representative 


38  THE  mSTOEY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  GOD. 

of  his  race — their  covenant  or  federal  head.  5.  The  one  trial 
was  to  answer  for  the  whole  race.  Should  Adam  prove  suc- 
cessful, the  whole  race  would  he  confirmed  in  a  state  of  holi- 
ness and  happiness  ;  and,  solely  upon  the  ground  of  his  obe- 
dience, they  would  be  considered  as  having  stood  when  he 
stood,  as  having  obeyed  when  he  obeyed  :  in  other  words, 
his  obedience  would  be  imputed  to  them  ;  all  its  blessings  and 
consequences  made  over  to  them,  as  though  the  obedience  had 
been  their  own.  On  the  contrary,  should  he  fall,  the  race 
would  be  confirmed  in  a  state  of  sin  and  misery  ;  and,  solely 
upon  the  ground  of  his  disobedience,  they  would  be  considered 
as  havino;  sinned  when  he  sinned :  in  other  words,  his  disobe- 
dience  would  be  imputed  to  them  ;  all  its  consequences  and 
miseries  made  over  to  them,  as  though  his  disobedience  had 
been  their  own.  Kom.  v.  12-21.  6.  The  perfection  and 
justice  of  the  trial.  Upon  its  close,  whether  successful  or 
otherwise,  the  race  would  be  left  in  a  condition  requiring  no 
further  action  on  the  part  of  God.  He  could  be  required  to 
do  no  more  than  let  His  perfect  work  have  its  free  course 
and  issue.  Matt.  v.  48  ;  1  John  i.  5  ;  Rev.  xv.  3 ;  2  Chron. 
xix.  7  ;  Job.  xxxiv.  12  ;  Gen.  xviii.  25 ;  2  Sara.  xxii.  31.  Such 
is  the  covenant  of  works  made  by  the  Lord  God  with  our  first 
parents  in  their  state  of  innocency  in  the  Garden  of  Eden. 


THE   INSTITUTION   OF   THE   SABBATH.  39 


CHAPTER  lY. 


THE   INSTITUTION   OF   TUE   SABBATH. 


In  six  days  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  finished,  and 
our  first  parents  located  in  Eden  under  the  covenant  of  works ; 
"  and  God  rested  on  the  seventh  day,  and  blessed  and  sanc- 
tified it,  because  that  in  it  He  rested  from  all  His  work  which 
God  created  and  made."  Gen.  ii.  1-3.  The  Sabbath  having 
been  created  for  the  worship  of  God,  it  is  reasonable  that  man 
should  appropriate  a  portion  of  time  specially  to  it ;  but  the 
amount  of  time,  and  the  interval  of  its  recurrence,  God  ordains, 
not  trusting  so  important  an  institution  to  the  wisdom  of  man 
even  in  his  state  of  holiness ;  for  had  he  arranged  it  rightly,  he 
would  have  lacked  authority  to  enforce  it.  The  law  of  the 
Sabbath,  as  a  positive  institution,  is  not  inserted  here  in  anti- 
cipation of  an  after  enactment.  It  is  the  first,  the  original  law, 
as  the  Fourth  Commandment  of  the  Decalogue  intimates  ;  and 
its  first  words,  "  Eemember  the  Sabbath-day,"  determine  it  to 
be  an  ancient  and  well-known  institution,  Exod.  xx.  11  ;  and 
while  it  is  a  positive  institution,  it  is  founded  upon  the  obliga- 
tion of  man  to  worship  God,  and  to  appropriate  a  portion  of 
his  time  for  that  purpose ;  and  consequently,  as  its  uses  and 
all  show,  is  moral  in  character  also,  and  forms  part  of  the 
moral  law  summarily  contained  in  the  Ten  Commandments, 
and  is  of  perpetual  obligation,  as  are  all  the  rest.  | 

The  Lord  claims  the  day  as  His  own,  Deut.  v.  14 ;  Exod. 
XX.  10  ;  xxxi.  13  ;  Levit.  xxvi.  2  ;  Ezek.  xx.  12-2U  ;  com- 
mands its  observance,  Exod.  xx.  8-11 ;  xxxi.  14-17  ;  xvi.  5-23 ; 
guards   it   against   desecration,   Exod.  xxxi.   14-16  ;    Kumb. 


40  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH    OF   GOD. 

XV.  82-36 ;  Jer.  xvii.  21-27 ;  l^eh.  xiii.  15-18 ;  Exod.  xxxv. 
2-3 ;  Levit.  xxiii.  3  ;  Exod.  xxxiv.  21 ;  xvi.  27-30  ;  Isa.  Ivi. 
2-7  ;  Iviii.  13-14  ;  Luke  iv.  16  -31  ;  xiii.  10  ;  Mark  vi.  2 ; 
Acts  xiii.  14-44;  xv.  21;  xvii.  2;  xviii.  4;  visits  trans- 
gressors with  severe  judgments,  Exod.  xxxiv.  14,15;  xxxv.  2; 
Numb.  XV.  32-36 ;  Ezek.  xx.  15-24  ;  xxii.  8-31 ;  xxiii.  38-46 ; 
Nell.  xiii.  18  ;  and  crowns  the  observance  of  it  with  the 
greatest  blessings,  Isa.  1.  2-7 ;  Iviii.  13-14  ;  Jer.  xvii.  24-25. 
The  observance  of  the  Sabbath  is  binding  upon  individuals, 
families,  communities,  and  nations,  all  the  laws  and  ordinances 
of  man  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

The  name  teaches  its  nature.  The  Hebrew  word  Sabbath 
signifies  rest;  the  Sabbath-day  is  rest-day — one-seventh  part 
of  our  time,  one  revolutioa  of  the  earth  upon  its  axis,  a  civil 
day  of  twenty-four  hours.  The  revolution  of  the  earth  upon 
its  axis,  bringing  different  parts  sooner  to  the  sun  than  others, 
renders  it  impossible  for  men  to  keep  the  Sabbath  at  one  and  the 
same  moment  the  world  over.  This  is  not  necessary,  "  known 
unto  God  are  all  His  works  "  from  the  beginning.  We  ob- 
serve the  day  when  it  returns,  wherever  we  happen  to  be. 

As  the  Lord's  rest  was  twofold — a  ceasing  from  His  work, 
and  a  taking  delight  in  it  as  the  manifestation  of  His  glory, 
Exod.  xxxi.  17 ;  Ps.  civ.  13 — so  is  man's.  First,  it  is  a  temporal 
rest,  in  obedience  to  God's  precept  and  example ;  and,  in  grati- 
tude for  the  liberal  provision  of  time  allowed  him  for  his  own 
works,  man  abstains  from  all  his  ordinary  labors  on  that  day, 
and  causes  that  rest  to  pervade  his  family  and  household. 
Gen.  ii.  1-3  ;  Exod.  ii.  8-11  ;  xxxi.  14-17 ;  xvi.  5-30  ;  xxxiv. 
24 ;  xxxv.  1-3 ;  Numb.  xv.  32-36 ;  Deut.  v.  12-14 ;  xii.  15 ; 
XV.  15-16 ;  Neh.  x.  31 ;  ch.  13. 

In  His  providential  government  the  Lord  makes  provision 
for  the  rest  from  labor  on  the  Sabbath.  The  loss  which  would 
otherwise  accrue,  is  made  up  by  His  blessing  the  labors  of  the 
six  days  with  not  only  a  bountiful  supply  for  those  days,  but 
also  with  a  sufficiency  for  the  seventh  day.  The  necessity 
of  such  a  provision  will  appear  by  considering  what  a  vast 
supply  of  food  and  other  necessaries  of  life  is  needed  by  the 
world  for  one  day,  and  how  much  more  for  a  whole  month, 


THE   INSTITUTION   OF   THE    SABBATH.  41 

and  for  a  whole  year !  During  tlie  year  He  gives  support  to 
the  world  for  above  one  month  and  a  half,  in  which  time 
nothing  is  done  in  the  way  of  labor ;  and,  in  every  seven 
years,  the  support  amounts  to  that  of  one  whole  year  of  rest  I 
This  harmonious  action  of  His  word  and  providence  is  beauti- 
fully illustrated  in  the  gift  of  the  manna  in  the  wilderness. 
"  See,  for  that  the  Lord  hath  given  you  the  Sabbath,  therefore 
He  giveth  you  on  the  sixth  day  the  bread  of  two  days  :  abide 
ye  every  man  in  his  place  ;  let  no  man  go  out  of  his  place  on 
the  seventh  day."  Exod.  xvi.  24-29. 

His  providence  harmonizes  with  His  word  in  anotlier  re- 
markable feature.  He  adds  no  health  and  strength  to  the 
world  above  what  He  gives  for  six  laboring  days,  to  enable  the 
world  to  continue  labor  on  the  seventh  day  also.  He  has 
created  man  and  beast  for  six  days'  labor  and  for  one  of  rest, 
and,  consequently,  a  necessity  for  the  observ^ance  of  the  Sab- 
bath is  laid  in  their  very  natures ;  and  the  experience  and 
observations  of  men  have  demonstrated  that  the  labor  of  seven 
days  continuously,  no  other  rest  being  taken  but  that  which  is 
possible  on  working  days,  will,  in  the  end,  result  in  the  serious 
injur}',  if  not  total  destruction  of  health  and  strength  of  mind 
and  bod}^,  on  the  part  of  man  ;  and  of  spirit  and  power,  on  the 
part  of  beast.  He,  therefore,  who  despises  the  command  of 
God,  v/ill  be  disappointed  and  o^'erthrown  by  His  providence. 
"  Hath  He  said  it  and  will  He  not  make  it  good  ? " 

"While  all  ordinary  work  is  prohibited,  works  of  necessity 
and  mercy  are  allowed  to  be  done  on  the  Sabbath,  in  the  doing 
of  which  we  obey  the  immediate  voice  of  the  Lord  of  the  Sab- 
bath, the  Sabbath  being  made  for  man  and  not  man  for  the 
Sabbath.  Exod.  xxxv.  1-3  ;  Jer.  xvii.  21,  22  ;  Exod.  xxxiv. 
21  ;  xvi.  27-30 ;  :N'eh.  xiii.  15-18 ;  Matt.  xii.  1-13 ;  Mark.  ii. 
23-28  ;  iii.  1-5  ;  Luke  vi.  1-10 ;  xiii.  10-17  ;  xiv.  3-5  ;  John 
V.  1-17;  ix.  1-31;  Levit.  xxiv.  8;  vi.  8-13;  JSTumb.  xxviii. 
3-10 ;  John  vii.  22-21 ;  Matt.  xii.  5 ;  2  Chron.  xxiii.  4-8  ;  2 
Kings  xi.  5-9  ;  Acts  i.  12  ;  1  Cor.  xvi.  1,2;  Acts  xvi.  13  ;  xvii. 
1,  2  ;  xviii.  4 ;  Matt.  xii.  1-9. 

There  is,  secondly,  a  spiritual  rest.  The  Lord  "  hallowed  " 
or  made  the  day  holy,  not  that  He  imparted  to  or  infused  into 


42  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

the  day  any  quality  of  holiness  above  other  days :  but  He 
honored  it  by  resting  Himself  on  that  day,  and  set  it  apart  from 
a  common  to  a  sacred  and  holy  use,  and  this  is  the  special 
•blessing  which  God  put  upon  it.  The  body  is  at  rest  from 
labor,  but  the  soul  is  at  rest  fi-om  sin,  and  consecrates  itself  all 
the  day  to  the  worship  and  service  of  God,  as  it  is  taught 
both  by  precept  and  example  in  His  Holy  Word.  The  Sab- 
bath is  to  be  "  remembered  "  and  prepared  for,  and  its  sacred 
hours  spent  in  private  devotion,  in  family  and  public  worship, 
and  in  works  of  benevolence  and  mercy,  and  all  abuses  of  it 
conscientiously  avoided ;  Acts  xv.  21 ;  Eccl.  v.  1 ;  2  Kings  iv. 
23 ;  Levit.  xix.  30 ;  Ps.  cxxii.  1 ;  Ps.  xlii.  and  xliii. ;  Isa.  ii.  3 ; 
Iviii.  13,  14 ;  Ps.  xcii. ;  Amos.  viii.  5,  and  the  day  made  an 
emblem  and  foretaste  of  heaven.  Heb.  iv.  1-11. 

The  design  of  the  Sabbatli  is  to  confirm  and  commemorate 
the  fact  of  the  creation  of  the  world  out  of  nothing  by  God, 
and  that  in  the  space  of  six  days ;  and,  since  its  change  from 
the  seventh  to  the  first  day  of  the  week,  to  confirm  and  com- 
memorate the  fact  of  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
and  the  completion  of  the  work  of  redemption,  and  also  to 
direct  mankind  unto  and  to  preserve  the  knowledge  of  the  one 
only  living  and  true  God  ;  Exod.  xx.  8-11 ;  xxxi.  12-lY  comp. ; 
Exod.  XXXV.  2 ;  !Numb.  xv.  32-36 :  to  establish  and  perpetuate 
His  worship,  private,  social,  and  public;  and  to  afibrd  men  of 
all  conditions  and  capacities  ample  opportunity  and  time  for 
the  same,  and  so  finally  to  promote  the  order,  peace,  health, 
knowledge,  virtue,  and  the  present  and  eternal  happiness  of 
man. 

The  perpetuity  of  the  Sabbath  is  briefly  argued  from  the 
perpetuity  of  the  world  and  the  race  of  man  upon  it,  for  whose 
benefit  it  was  instituted :  from  its  recurrence  being  the 
measure  of  time  to  the  giving  of  the  law,  and  has  been  so 
ever  since :  Gen.  vii.  4-10  ;  viii.  10-12  ;  xxix.  27,  28 ;  Exod. 
xvi.  22-30;  Gen.  viii.  22 ;  Job  ii.  13  ;  Judges  xiv.  12-17 :  from 
its  introduction  into,  the  decalogue  of  perpetual  authority : 
Exod.  XX.  8-11 ;  Deut.  v.  17 :  and  from  its  having  been  ordained 
for  a  perpetual  covenant  and  a  sign  between  God  and  His 
Church,  Exod.  xxxi.  13-18  ;  Isa.  lvi.6  ;  Ezek.  xx.  12-20 ;  Deut. 


THE   INSTITUTION   OF   THE   SABBATH.  43 

V.  15  :  and  so  regarded  and  observed  by  His  Chui-cli  until  the 
coming  of  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  Isa.  Iviii.  10-13 ;  Jer.  xvii. 
19-27 ;  xiii.  15-22  ;  Ezek.  xx.  12-21 ;  xlvi.  1 ;  Amos.  viii.  11 ; 
and  finally,  from  its  being  received  and  acknowledged  by  our 
Lord  and  His  Apostles,  and  by  them  continued  in  the  Church 
and  so  was  it  prophesied  that  it  should  be.    Matt.  xix.  16-19 
Luke  xviii.  18-20  ;  Matt.  xxii.  35-40  ;  Luke  iv.,  xvi.  22-31 
xiii.  10-lT ;  vi.  1-5  ;  xiv.  1-6  ;  Mark  vi.  1-16  ;  Matt.  xii.  9-21 
John  V.  5 ;  vii.  21  ;  ix.  1 ;  Mark  ii.  28  ;  x.  19 ;  Acts  xiii.  14- 
42-44 ;  xvi.  13 ;  xvii.  1,  2;  xviii.  4;  Kora.  vii.  7  ;  Eph.  vi.  1-3 ; 
Jas.  ii.  10-11 ;  Rom.  xiii.  8-9 ;  Luke  xxiii.  56 ;  Rev.  i.  10 ;  1  Cor. 
xvi.  1,2;  Isa.  Ivi.  1-9  comp.  Ps.  cxviii.  19-26. 

The  Lord  may,  in  His  sovereignty  and  wisdom,  transfer  the 
ordained  rest  of  the  seventh  day  to  any  other  day  of  the  week ; 
and  He  has  done  this,  and  with  so  much  clearness  as  to  leave 
no  doubt  of  it  in  the  mind  of  the  considerate,  and  for  reasons 
which  they  are  able  gratefully  to  appreciate.  From  the  crea- 
tion of  the  world  to  the  resurrection  of  om'  Saviour,  the  seventh 
day  was  ordained  to  be  the  Sabbath :  and  from  the  resurrec- 
tion of  our  Saviour  to  the  end  of  the  world,  the  first  day  was 
ordained  to  be  the  Sabbath. 

The  reasons  for  this  change  are  these  :  Our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  rose  from  the  dead  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  Matt, 
xxviii.  1  ;  Mark  xvi.  2 ;  Luke  xxiv.  1 ;  John  xx.  1,  and  "  was 
declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God  with  power,  according  to  the 
Spirit  of  Holiness,  by  the  resurrection  fi'om  the  dead."  Rom. 
i.  4,  This  amazing  event  demonstrated  finally  and  forever 
His  Divinity  and  Messiahship,  and  completed  and  sealed  the 
work  of  the  salvation  of  the  Church  of  God.  1  Cor.  xv. 
14-17,  19-58 ;  Isa.  Ixv.  17-18.  On  this  day  our  Lord  rested 
from  His  work  of  redemption,  as  He  originally  rested  on 
the  seventh  day  from  His  work  of  creation.  And  this  is  the 
fundamental  reason  for  the  change  of  the  Sabbath  ;  and  there 
are  beauty  and  harmony  in  the  change,  since  the  memories  of 
the  seventh  day  are  mingled  with  those  of  the  first  day,  for 
the  offices  of  the  Creator  and  Redeemer  are  united  in  the 
same  glorious  person  in  the  Godhead.  No  man  can  fully 
understand  and  rejoice  in  God  as  his  Creator,  until  he  sees 


M  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

and  acknowledges  Hitn  as  his  Eedeemer ;  and  thus  by  the 
change  an  endearing:  and  cumulative  evidence  is  furnished  to 
all  generations,  of  the  truth  of  the  salvation  provided  of  God 
for  a  ruined  world.  And  another  reason — that  the  true  Israel 
of  God  may  be  distinguished  from  the  unbelieving,  who 
denied  their  own  Messiah,  and  observed  and  still  observe  the 
seventh  day ;  for,  to  observe  the  first  day  is  to  acknowledge 
Christ  :  and  hence  the  distinctive  appellations — the  Jewish 
Sabbath  and  the  Christian  Sabbath  ;  the  first  observed  on  the 
seventh  day  by  unbelieving  Israel  ;  the  second  observed  on 
the  first  day  by  believing  Israel. 

The  evidences  of  the  change  are  :  1.  Our  Lord  practically 
honored  the  day.  He  appeared  to  His  disciples  on  the 
evening  of  His  resurrection,  Luke  xxiv.  32-43,  and  com- 
missioned and  qualified  them  for  their  ofiice  and  work  by 
breathing  upon  and  imparting-  unto  them  the  Holy  Ghost  in 
all  His  influences  of  light,  and  guidance,  and  inspiration. 
John  XX.  19-23.  He  appeared  to  them  on  the  next  First-day 
after,  when  they  were  assembled  together,  and  caused  Thomas 
to  acknowledge  His  Godhead  and  Messiahship,  John  xx. 
24-29,  and  poured  out  the  Holy  Spirit  in  all  His  miraculous 
influences  upon  the  Apostles  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  which 
was  the  first  day  of  the  week  ;  and  when  they  j^ut  the  trumpet 
to  their  mouths  and  began  to  preach  a  crucified  and  risen 
Saviour,  He  poured  out  the  same  Spirit  in  His  convicting, 
regenerating  power,  and  three  thousand  Avere  added  to  the 
Lord.  Acts  ii. ;  Levit.  xxiii.  15-21.  2.  The  Apostles,  to 
whom  the  Holy  Spirit  was  given  to  guide  them  into  all  truth 
as  the  due  successors  of  our  Lord  in  authority  in  the  Church, 
till  all  things  should  be  ordained  according  to  His  will,  began 
immediately  to  observe  the  First-day  as  a  day  of  assembly  and 
religious  service,  Luke  xxiv.  32-43  ;  John  xx.  19-23,  24-29  ; 
Acts  XX.  7,  and  made  it  a  day  for  laying  by  their  contribu- 
tions for  benevolent  purposes,  1  Cor.  xvi.  1-3,  which  practice 
continued  ever  after ;  and  their  practice  demonstrates  what 
their  precept  or  commands  were  in  respect  to  the  day.  3.  But 
in  this  connection  the  name  given  by  the  Apostles  to  the  day, 
fixes  its  character.     The  Apostle  John  calls  it  "  the  Lord's 


THE   INSTITUTION   OF   THE   SABBATH.  45 

Day ;  "  that  is,  the  day  of  His  resurrection — the  day  com- 
memorative thereof  and  consecrated  to  Ilim.  For  the  same 
reason  the  sacrament  is  called  "  tlie  Lord's  Supper."  Rev, 
i.  10.  ]N"o  other  day  was  known  by  this  name  but  tlie  First- 
day  ;  and  it  was  so  called  in  contradistinction  to  the  Seventh- 
day  or  Sabbath,  under  the  Old  Dispensation.  In  their  ministry 
to  their  "  brethren,  according  to  the  flesh,"  the  Apostles  were 
accustomed  to  meet  with  them  in  their  Synagogues  (not,  how- 
ever, neglecting  their  own  worship  on  the  First-day)  for  the 
opportunity  of  reasoning  with  and  speaking  the  Gospel  to 
them ;  but  they  gradually  withdrew  and  maintained  their 
own  distinct  worship  on  the  Lord's  Day.  Acts  xiii.  42-44  ; 
xvi.  13 ;  xvii.  1-2 ;  xviii.  4,  &c.  4.  The  passages  Col.  ii.  16 
and  Gal.  iv.  10  imply  the  change.  The  Apostle,  in  releasing 
Christians  from  the  observance  of  the  abrogated  ceremonial 
laws,  to  which  unbelieving  Israel  pertinaciously  held,  seems 
to  include  under  the  word  "  Sabbaths,"  not  only  feast  and 
other  holy  days,  but  the  Seventh-day  Sabbath  also;  for  no 
man  could  continue  to  observe  that  day  in  the  ancient  form 
under  the  law  and  be  esteemed  a  disciple  of  Christ.  5.  The 
Lord  of  the  Sabbath,  the  great  Head  of  the  Chm-ch,  from  the 
day  of  Pentecost  down  to  our  times,  has  always  honored  the 
First-day — blessing  by  His  presence  and  Spirit  the  assemblies 
of  His  saints  in  private  and  in  public ;  blessing  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel  and  the  administration  of  His  ordinances  to 
their  edification,  and  to  the  salvation  of  unnumbered  mul- 
titudes ;  and  6.  He  not  only  thus  blesses  the  day  in  the  ob- 
servance of  it,  but  defends  it  from  desecration  by  judgments 
upon  those  who  profane  it,  of  one  sort  or  another ;  and  He 
has  wholly  given  up  to  blindness  and  hardness  those  who 
hold  to  the  Seventh-day  Sabbath,  whereby  we  may  be  assured 
it  is  no  longer  the  day  He  would  have  observed  in  His 
Church  ;  and,  finally,  the  change  of  the  Sabbath  brings  no 
relaxation  of  the  holy  and  strict  observance  of  it  enjoined  on 
the  Church  of  old.  The  Gospel  does  not  make  void  the  law. 
It  establishes  it. 


46  THE  HISTOKY  OF  THE  CHUECH  OF  GOO 


CHAPTEK  Y. 

THE   EXISTENCE   AND   AGENCY   OF   ANGELS. 

The  first  entire  day  of  man's  existence  was  the  lioly  Sabbath. 
Upon  that  day  God  "  rested  from  all  His  work  which  He  had 
made,"  and  man  rested  in  Him  ;  and  in  innocency,  and  in 
happiness,  and  in  such  sweet  communion  with  his  Maker,  he 
had  a  foretaste  of  that  glorious  and  eternal  rest  above,  of 
whixih  the  rest  below  was  but  an  emblem. 

The  holy  day  is  gone,  and  our  first  parents  enter  upon  the 
duties  and  cares  of  life,  fresh,  vigorous,  and  joyful  in  each 
other  and  in  God,  whose  voice  they  daily  heard  as  He  walked 
with  them  in  the  garden.  They  enter  also  upon  their  mo- 
mentous trial.  They  touch  not  the  "  tree  of  the  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil,"  but  freely  eat  of  the  trees  of  the  garden  and 
of  the  precious  "  tree  of  life." 

How  long  they  continued  in  their  holiness  and  happiness 
undisturbed,  is  not  revealed ;  but  certainly  not  very  long. 
The  great  enemy  of  God,  and  their  great  enemy,  enters  the 
garden  and  assails  the  woman  with  a  temptation  by  which 
she  is  finally  overcome,  and  the  race  is  ruined  ! 

The  existence  and  agency  of  accountable  beings  in  the 
creation  of  God,  other  than  man,  are  thus  early  in  the  history 
brought  to  view.  They  appear  and  act  a  conspicuous  part 
throughout  the  entire  history  of  the  Church.  Eeason  might 
suggest  tlie  existence  of  such  beings  ;  but  the  Holy  Scriptures 
establish  the  fact ;  for  God,  who  created  all  things  by  Jesus 
Christ,  created   the   angels   also,   Eph.  iii.  9  ;   John  i.  1-3  ; 


THE  EXISTENCE   AND   AGENCY   OF  ANGELS.  47 

Col.  i.  15-17 ;  Gen.  i.  1 ;  Exod.  xx.  11 ;  Mark  xiii.  19  ;  and 
for  bis  own  glory  and  service,  Rev.  iv.  11  ;  Rom.  xi.  30 ; 
Prov.  xvi.  4 ;  Ps.  ciii.  20-21 ;  civ.  4  ;  cxlviii.  2  ;  Matt.  vi.  10  ; 
Luke  i,  19  ;  in  nature  superior  to  men,  pure  "  spirits"  without 
bodies  of  "  flesh  and  bones,"  Luke  xxiv.  39  and  Col.  i.  16 ; 
Mark  xii.  25  ;  Luke  viii.  30-33  ;  Acts  xvi.  16  ;  viii.  7 ;  xi.  38 ; 
Ps.  viii.  5 ;  Job  iv.  18-19  ;  and  in  a  spiritual  and  heavenly 
world  to  which  they  were  adapted.  Heb.  xii.  22  ;  Isa.  vi. 
1-3  ;  Dan.  vii.  9-10  ;  Rev.  v.  11-12  ;  Heb.  i.  14. 

Like  man,  the  angels  were  placed  upon  trial,  as  we  legiti- 
mately conclude — a  conclusion  from  the  declaration  that  they 
"  kept  not  their  first  estate,"  their  original  excellency  and 
dignity  of  nature  and  station.  Jude  vi.  Of  the  precise  nature 
of  their  trial  we  know  nothing,  except  that  they  were  under 
law  to  God,  and  had  this  their  "  first  estate  "  given  them  to 
"  keep."  It  is  a  legitimate  conclusion  from  their  election  and 
their  reprobation.  The  Apostle  Paul  charges  Timothy  "  be- 
fore God,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  elect  angels." 
They  would  be  the  witnesses  of  his  fidelity.  These  are  "  the 
holy  angels,"  Mark  viii.  38  ;  Matt.  xxv.  31,  concerning  whom 
Christ  Jesus  thus  speaks,  Luke  ix.  26:  "Whosoever  shall  be 
ashamed  of  me  and  of  my  words,  of  him  shall  the  Son  of  man 
be  ashamed,  when  he  shall  come  in  his  own  glory,  and  in  his 
Father's,  and  of  the  holy  angels ; "  and  the  same  thing  he  re- 
peats in  another  form  in  Rev.  iii.  5  :  These  "  elect  angels  " 
are  distinguished  from  the  angels  which  "  kept  not  their  first 
estate,  but  left  their  own  habitations,"  Jude  vi.,  and  "  sinned." 
The  habitation  of  the  elect  angels  is  still  and  ever  will  be  that 
which  God  has  made  "  their  own,"  even  heaven  itself.  Matt, 
xviii.  10  ;  xxiv.  36 ;  xxvi.  53  ;  2  Thess.  i.  7;  Gen.  xxviii.  12; 
Luke  XV.  10,  &c.  But  "  the  angels  that  sinned,  God  spared 
not,  but  cast  them  down  to  hell,  and  delivered  them  into 
chains  of  darkness,  to  be  reserved  unto  judgment,"  as  Peter 
affirms.  2  Peter  ii.  4.  Jude  uses  almost  the  same  language: 
"  He  hath  reserved  in  everlasting  chains  under  darkness  unto 
the  judgment  of  the  great  day,"  ver.  6.  Hell,  the  place  of 
"  everlasting  fire  "  and  punishment,  "  is  prepared  for  them." 
They  shall  be  adjudged  and  cast  down  to  it  as  their  final  end 


48  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF    GOD. 

and  portion,  Matt.  xxv.  41 ;  Eev.  xx.  10 ;  but  meanwhile 
they  are  reserved  in  chains  under  darkness,  excluded  from 
the  glory  of  God  and  all  hope  of  His  favor,  fast  held  in  His 
power  in  all  the  darkness  of  sin  and  fruitless  hate,  and  rebel- 
lion and  remorse,  and  despair  and  misery. 

The  fact  that  a  portion  of  the  angels  "  kept  their  first 
estate,"  is  therefore  owing  to  the  election  of  God,  They  were 
able  to  stand,  yet  free  to  fall ;  and  being  in  their  nature  as 
creatures  fallible,  it  pleased  God  to  sustain  by  His  special 
power  a  certain  portion  of  them,  who  were  thereby  kept  from 
falling,  and  enabled  to  preserve  their  integrity  until  the  time 
appointed  for  the  continuance  of  their  trial  should  be  past. 
In  this  manner  were  they  chosen  elect  of  God  to  eternal  truth, 
and  holiness  and  happiness.  They  were  upheld  and  con- 
firmed in  their  state  of  holiness  and  happiness.  They,  there- 
fore, owe  their  heaven  to  God";  and  to  Him  they  give  the 
glory  of  it  for  evermore  ! 

The  Scriptures  do  not  determine  when  the  sin  and  fall  of 
the' angels  in  heaven  took  place.  From  the  manner  in  which 
our  Lord  speaks  of  the  sin  of  Satan,  John  viii.  44,  and  also 
the  Apostle  John,  1  John  iii.  8,  it  is  concluded  that  the  angels 
sinned  not  very  long  after  tlieir  creation.  Their  sin  and  fall 
took  place  before  that  of  men,  for  Satan  already  fallen  was 
the  tempter  of  our  first  parents.  Gen.  iii.  1-7,  &c.  The 
Apostle  Paul,  in  1  Tim.  iii.  G,  intimates  that  their  sin  was 
pride.  The  cause,  of  course,  is  to  be  looked  for  in  the  fallible 
creatures,  but  the  occasion,  the  object,  the  end  and  manner  of 
the  exhibition  of  this  wicked  pride,  we  know  not.  It  was, 
however,  a  fearful  transgression,  that  involved  them  in  eternal 
ruin.  For  them  God  in  His  sovereignty  provided  no  Re- 
deemer. He  was  under  no  obligation  of  justice  to  do  so. 
They  were  left  to  depravity,  despair,  and  punishment !  Heb. 
ii.  16  ;  Eev.  xx.  10. 

The  angels  are  consequently  divided  into  two  classes :  the 
good  and  the  evil ;  and  both  classes  are  largely  involved  in  the 
history  of  the  Church  of  God. 

Of  the  good  angels,  it  may  be  said,  that  they  stand  iu 
the  presence  of  God,  and  are  continually  employed  in  praising 


THE   EXISTENCE   AND   AGENCY   OF   ANGELS.  49 

God  and  doing  His  will  ;  Ps.  ciii.  20,  21,  and  form  a  most 
glorious  and  blessed  society :  Isa.  vi.  1-3 ;  Job  xxxviii.  7 ; 
Zacb.  ii.  3,  4 ;  Rev.  v.  1-13  ;  but  what  concerns  us  more  nearly, 
they  are  employed  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  the  work  of  re- 
demption, while  they  are  servants  and  ministers  of  His  will  as 
their  God  and  Creator :  they  are  more  especially  committed  to 
His  hand,  with  all  power  in  heaven  and  in  earth,  as  the  Re- 
deemer of  men :  and  He  employs  them  in  His  Church  and  for 
the  benefit  and  glory  thereof.  '  Eph.  i.  20-23 ;  Phil.  ii.  9, 10 ; 
Col.  ii.  9,  10  ;  1  Pet.  iii.  23  ;  Heb.  i.  5-14 ;  "  Are  they  not  all 
ministering  spirits  sent  fortli  to  minister  to  them  who  shall  be 
heirs  of  salvation  ? "  Holy,  intelligent,  active  and  powerful,  they 
do  not  undertake  an  unwilling  service,  Ps.  civ.  4  ;  for  they  are 
interested  spectators  of  the  wonderful  plan  of  redemption,  and 
adore  the  glories  of  the  Godhead  therein  made  known,  1  Pet. 
i.  12,  and  through  the  Church  attain  to  their  own  joy,  a  more 
profound  knowledge  of  "  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God."  Eph. 
iii.  10;  Luke  xv.  10;  Rev.  v.  11-12;  Dan.  ix.  20-23;  Luke 
ii.  8-14. 

Marshalled  in  their  hosts,  and  clothed  with  majesty  and 
power,  they  are  employed  in  producing  great  events  in  heaven 
above,  and  in  the  earth  beneath ;  and  reveal  the  present  or 
future  will  of  God  expressed  either  in  words  or  in  events. 
Evidences  of  this  agency  abound  both  in  the  Old  and  the  New 
Testament.  Gen.,"chapters  16, 18, 19,  21,  22,  28,  32,  and  xxiv. 
7  ;  Judges  xiii.  19  ;  Dan.  ix.  21-27,  and  10, 11,  and  12th  chap- 
ters, Zech.  i.  ix.  21,  and  2d,  3d,  and  4th  chaps,  Ezekiel ;  Matt, 
i.  20-25  ;  ii.  13 ;  Luke  i.  11-20,  26-38 ;  ii.  8-14  ;  Matt,  xxviii- 
1-7 ;  Acts  X.  7-22  ;  xii.  8-15  ;  viii.  26 ;  xxvii,  23,  and  Rev. 
They  assist,  comfort,  defend,  and  preserve  the  people  of  God 
in  dangers,  distresses,  wants,  afflictions,  persecutions,  and 
deaths.  Hagar  is  relieved.  Gen.  xvi.  7-13  ;  xxi.  17-19  ;  Lot 
and  his  two  daughters  are  delivered.  Gen.  xix.  9,  10;  15-17  ;. 
Jacob  strengthened.  Gen.  xxxii.  and  xxxiii. ;  Elijah  fed,  1  Kings] 
xix.  1-8;  Elisha  preserved,  2  Kings  vi.  17;  the  kingdom  of 
Judah  saved  from  the  Assyi'ians,  2  Kings  xix.  35  comp.  Ps. 
xxxiv.  7 ;  xci.  11,  and  Daniel  from  the  mouth  of  the  lions,  vi. 
22.  The  Apostles  are  delivered  from  prison.  Acts  v.  19,  and 
4 


50  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

Peter  rescued  from  the  sword  of  Herod,  xii.  Y-11.  Angels 
minister  to  Christ  after  His  temptation,  and  strengthen  Him  in 
His  agony  in  the  garden,  and  roll  away  the  stone  from  the 
door  of  the  sepulchre  at  His  resurrection,  Matt.  iv.  11 ;  Luke 
xxii.  43  ;  Matt,  xxviii.  1,  2.  His  disciples  are  objects  of  an- 
gelic care,  Matt,  xviii.  10,  and  their  souls,  when  freed  from  the 
body  at  death,  are  borne  by  them  to  the  upper  world,  Luke 
xvi.  22,  and  finally,  they  minister  unto  the  end,  and  accompany 
the  Judge  in  the  great  day,  and  reap  the  world,  gathering  the 
wheat  into  his  garner  and  the  tares  into  fire  unquenchable. 
Matt,  xiii.  38-43 ;  xxv.  31 ;  1  Thess.  iv.  16,  17 ;  2  Thess.  i.  Y, 
8  ;  Heb.  i.  14 ;  xii.  22.  When  employed  in  special  and  extra- 
ordinary missions  in  tlie  Old  and  New  Testaments — the  period 
of  inspiration  and  of  miracles — they  were  manifested  in  visions 
and  in  bodily  shapes,  and  were  heard  speaking  in  audible 
voices.  But  these  extraordinary  ministrations  are  over.  Their 
ministrations  now  are  invisible  and  inaudible.  How  they 
exist  as  pure  spirits,  and  how  they  move  from  heaven  to  earth, 
and  how  they  communicate  with  each  other,  and  have  access 
to  the  spirits  of  men  and  impress  and  influence  their  minds, 
we  have  no  knowledge  beyond  the  revealed  facts,  that  they  ac- 
compHsh  these  things,  and  that  their  ministrations  are  made  of 
God  to  be  of  great  value  to  His  people.  Ps.  xxxiv,  7  ;  xci.  11. 
According  to  His  good  pleasure  they  convey  His  mercies  and 
execute  His  judgments.  2  Sara.  xxiv.  16  ;  2  Chron.  xxxii.  21 ; 
Acts  xii.  22-23. 

Glorious,  and  exalted,  and  beneficial  as  the  good  Angels  are, 
they  are  but  the  limited  and  dependent  creatures  of  God,  and 
are  not  to  be  clothed  with  divine  prerogatives  and  attributes. 
To  offer  them  religious  worship,  or  to  appeal  to  them  as  our 
intercessors  with  God  in  any  form  or  manner  whatever,  is  rank 
and  ruinous  idolatry,  expressly  forbidden  of  God :  and  the 
holy  Angels  themselves  utterly  eschew  everything  of  the  kind. 
Col.  ii.  18  ;  1  Cor.  viii.  5  ;  Rev.  xxii.  8-10  ;  xix.  10 ;  1  Tim.  iv. 
1 ;  Mark  xii.  20-21 ;  Matt.  iv.  10 ;  1  Tim.  ii.  5 ;  Heb.  vii.  25. 

The  evil  angels  are  the  angels  that  "  kept  not  their  first 
estate,"  Jude  6 ;  2  Pet.  ii.  4,  and  are  no  longer  "  morning 
stars,"  nor  "  Sons  of  God ; "  but  are  "  evil,"  unclean  spirits. 


THE  EXISTENCE  AND  AGENCY  OF  ANGELS.         51 

and  "  devils,"  1  Sam.  xvi.  xiv.  23  ;  Luke  vii.  21  ;  viii.  2 ;  Acts 
xix.  12-16 ;  Matt.  xii.  43 ;  Mark  i.  23-26  ;  v.  2-8  ;  Luke  ix. 
42  ;  Matt.  iv.  24;  viii.  31 ;  Mark  xvl.  17;  Luke  viii.  2  ;  ix.  1 ; 
X.  IT ;  xiii.  32 ;  1  Cor.  x.  20,  21,  &c.  Their  number  is  evi- 
dently very  great,  Mark  v.  8,  9 ;  from  the  general  testimony 
of  Scripture,  and  from  their  diffusion  over  the  earth,  and  the 
liability  of  every  man  to  be  tempted  by  them,  and  that  con- 
tinually, 1  Pet.  v.  8,  9.  They  were  seduced  from  their  allegi- 
ance to  God  by  the  same  angel  who  seduced  our  first  parents ; 
and  was  himself  the  first  transgressor  ;  and  "  abode  not  in  the 
truth,"  John  viii.  44  ;  and  because  he  prevailed  over  angels  and 
men  to  their  loss  of  eternal  life,  he  is  called  by  our  Lord  "  a 
murderer  from  the  beginning,"  and  "  the  father  of  lies."  He 
holds  station  and  authority  over  the  fallen  angels,  and  is  their 
"Prince,"  and  they  are  reckoned  "his,"  Matt.  ix.  34;  Eph. 
ii.  2  ;  Matt.  xxv.  41.  The  various  names  by  which  he  is  called, 
indicate  his  character  and  employments.  "  The  old  serpent," 
"  The  Devil,"  and  "  Satan"— Kev.  xx.  2 ;  Matt.  xii.  26  ;  iv. 
5  ;  "  Angel  of  the  bottomless  pit,"  "  Abaddon,"  "  Apol- 
lyon,"  Rev.  ix.  11 ;  "  Accuser,"  Kev.  xii.  10 ;  "  Beelzebub," 
"Prince  of  the  Devils,"  Matt.  xii.  24-26;  "Prince  of  this 
world,"  John  xii.  31 ;  xiv.  30 ;  "  Prince  of  the  power  of  the 
air,"  Eph.  ii.  2 ;  "  The  tempter,"  1  Thess.  iii.  5  ;  Matt.  iv.  3 ; 
and  "  The  god  of  this  world,"  2  Cor.  iv.  4.  Evil  angels  are 
hopelessly  depraved,  and  enemies  of  all  righteousness,  xlctsxiii. 
10,  and  lie  under  the  wrath  and  curse  of  God,  2  Pet.  ii.  4, 
and  in  the  judgment  of  the  great  day  vdll  be  cast  into  the 
everlasting  fire  prepared  for  them.  Matt.  xxv.  41.  They  be- 
lieve in  the  coming  woes  of  their  damnation  and  "tremble," 
James  ii.  19  ;  Matt.  viii.  29  ;  Mark  i.  24 ;  v.  7 ;  and  yet,  since 
their  apostacy,  they  have  not  ceased  to  employ  themselves  in 
rebellion  against  God,  who,  in  His  unsearchable  but  all-wise 
counsels,  has  permitted  them  to  visit  this  world  ;  and  they,  in 
their  wickedness,  have  become  the  tempters  and  destroyers  of 
the  souls  of  men.  Although  their  influence  is  mighty,  yet 
it  is  persuasive  only :  they  are  tempters,  and  therefore  resisti- 
ble ;  and  saints  may  make  them  flee.  Jas.  iv.  7 ;  v.  9 ;  Eph. 
iv.  27;  vi.  10-16;  ii.  2;  vi.  16;  2  Cor.  iv.  4;  2  Tim.  ii.   26; 


52  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

Mark  iv.  15;  Acts  xxvi.  18;  2  Cor.  xi.  14;  Eev.  ii.  24;  Luke 
xxii.  3  ;  John  xiv.  30 ;  Luke  xxii.  53 ;  Acts  v.  3.  They  assault- 
ed even  the  Holy  Redeemer,  and  their  hand  was  in  his  be- 
trayal and  crucifixion.  And  while  He  ministered  on  earth, 
for  the  special  display  of  His  divine  majesty  and  mediatorial 
glory,  and  for  the  comfort  of  His  Church,  Satan  was  permitted 
to  exert  his  power  even  over  the  bodies  of  men ;  and  he 
entered  into  them  and  subjected  them  to  diverse  torments, 
affecting  indeed  both  body  and  mind!  These  were  real 
Satanic  possessions,  and  not  mere  mental  and  bodily  diseases, 
as  the  plain  narratives  of  the  Scriptures  abundantly  prove  ; 
nor  can  the  teachings  and  conduct  of  our  Saviour  be  under- 
stood and  justified  on  any  other  supposition.  Matt.  iv.  24; 
x.  7,  8 ;  Mark  v.  1-lT;  Luke  iv.  36  ;  xi.  20  ;  xiii.  16  ;  x.  17-20 ; 
Acts  x.  38 ;  xvi.  16-18.  The  power  of  casting  out  these  pos- 
sessions, He  conferred  upon  His  Apostles,  who  always  spake 
of  them  and  treated  them  as  real,  Heb.  ii.  14 ;  1  John  iii.  8. 
This  apostacy,  like  that  of  men,  will  in  the  end  be  over- 
ruled to  the  praise  and  glory  of  God.  The  Lord  Jesus  will 
destroy  the  works  of  the  Devil  and  deliver  His  elect  out  of 
his  hands,  and  bruise  him  under  their  feet,  and  in  the  great 
day  He  will  show  His  wrath  and  make  His  power  known  upon 
Satan  and  his  angels,  the  vessels  of  wrath  fitted  for  destruc- 
tion.    Matt.  XXV.  4. 


FALL   OF    OUR   FIRST  PARENTS   AND   ITS   CONSEQUENCES.        53 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE   FALL   OF   OUE   FIRST   PARENTS   AND   ITS   OONSEQUENOES. 

The  temptation  is  no  sacred  fable,  or  allegory,  or  an 
address  to  tlie  soul  through  the  imagination,  a  mere  spiritual 
vision,  but  a  reality  described  by  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the 
simplicity  and  particularity  of  historical  narrative,  and  as  such 
is  treated  of  throughout  the  "Word  of  God.  John  viii.  44 ; 
2  Cor.  xi.  3  ;  1  Tim.  ii.  14  ;  Eev.  xii.  9  ;  Rom.  v.  12-19  ; 
xvi.  20. 

The  tempter  was  Satan,  inspired  by  hatred  of  God  and  of 
His  creatures — the  instrument,  the  serpent,  "  more  subtle  than 
any  beast  of  the  field  which  the  Lord  God  had  made,"  and 
therefore  well  adapted  to  his  end,  Matt.  x.  16,  called  "  the  ser- 
pent," 1  Cor.  xi.  3  ;  "  the  old  serpent,"  "  the  great  dragon," 
Rev.  xii.  9  ;  xx.  2,  "  which  deceiveth  the  whole  world." 

The  temptation  was  directed  in  the  first  instance  against 
Eve,  the  weaker  vessel,  1  Pet.  iii.  Y,  when  alone  and  separated 
from  her  husband,  suddenly  and  adroitly  by  an  inquiry,  Gen, 
iii.  1-5,  "  And  he  said  unto  the  woman,  Yea,  hath  God  said, 
Ye  shall  not  eat  of  every  tree  of  the  garden? "  The  "woman, 
witliout  question,  discerned  that  an  intelligent  being  was 
making  use  of  tlie  serpent  as  a  medium  of  communication 
with  her,  and  answered,  "  We  may  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  trees 
of  the  garden  ;  but  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  which  is  in  the 
midst  of  the  garden,  God  hath  said,  Ye  shall  not  eat  of  it, 
neither  shall  ye  touch  it,  lest  ye  die."  And  the  serpent  said 
unto  the  woman  :  "  Ye  shall  not  surely  die  ;   for  God  doth 


54  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

know  that  in  the  day  ye  eat  thereof,  then  your  eyes  shall  be 
opened,  and  ye   shall  be  as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil." 
Pride,  discontent,  unbelief,  ambition  of  knowledge  and  higher 
attainments,  and  self-gratification,  usurped  the  place  of  humil- 
ity, contentment,  filial  reverence,  confidence,  and  love ;  and 
she  was  "  beguiled  by  his  subtlety."     "  And  when  the  woman 
saw  tliat  the  tree  was  good  for  food,  and  that  it  was  pleasant 
to  the  eyes,  and  a  tree  to  be  desired  to  make  one  wise,  she 
took  of  the  fruit  thereof ;  and  did  eat,  and  gave  also  unto  her 
husband  with  her ;  and  he  did  eat."     How  was  it  possible  for 
beings,  created  holy  and  upright,  with  no  inclination  to  evil, 
thus  to  entertain  the  temptation  and  fall  into  sin  ?     The  fact 
that  they  sinned  proved  the  possibility ;   holy  and  upright, 
yet  were   they  mutable  ;   and   God,  for  the  accomplishment 
of  His  infinitely  wise  purposes,  left  them  to  the  freedom  of 
their  own  will  ;   in  other  words,  to  act  for  themselves,  and 
in  their  own  strength.     He  gave  them   power  to  stand,  yet 
left  them  free  to  fall ;  and  not  being  in  justice  bound  to  do 
so.  He  did  not  supply  them  with  that  help  in  the  hour  of  trial 
which   they   needed  to  keep   them   from   falling.     Our  first 
parents  suffered  themselves  to  be  deceived  by  Satan,  and  of 
their  own  free  will  entered  into  the  temptation.     This  is  the 
explanation  of  the  fall  given  by  the  Holy  Spirit  :  "  God  hath 
made  man  upright;  but  they  have  sought  out  many  inven- 
tions."    Eccl.  vii.  29 ;  Eom.  v.  12.     "  By  one  man  sin  enter- 
ed into  the  world  ; "  ver.  19,  "  By  one  man's  disobedience  m,any 
were  made  sinners." 

This  first  sin  was  a  great  sin,  since  Adam  not  only  vio- 
lated the  express  command,  "  Thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it,"  but  the 
entire  moral  law  of  God  written  in  his  heart,  of  which  this 
one  was  an  epitome.  By  this  one  act  he  threw  off  the  whole 
authority  of  God,  James  ii.  10  ;  and  that  under  the  most  for- 
bidding circumstances.  He  was  enriched  with  knowledge  and 
holiness,  fresh  from  the  hand  of  his  Creator,  with  whom  he 
held  intimate  and  daily  communion  ;  placed  in  a  most  delight- 
ful abode  with  every  want  supplied  in  richest  profusion,  and 
the  tree  that  reminded  him  of  his  dependence  upon  God 
and  of  his  covenant  relations  and  of  his  glorious  reward,  if  he 


FALL    OF   OUU    FIRST    TAKENTS   AND    ITS    CONSEQUENCES.        55 

should  persevere  in  his  obedience  unto  the  end  of  his  trial, 
stood  ever  before  liim  ! 

Although  Eve  sinned  lirst  and  influenced  Adam  to  sin,  yet 
is  the  sin  called  the  sin  of  the  "  man,"  Gen.  iii.  17  ;  Rom. 
V.  12,  &c. ;  and  for  the  reason  that  he  was  tke  head  of  his 
wife,  and  the  covenant  was  made  with  him  as  the  head  and 
representative  of  his  race. 

The  consequences  of  Adam's  sin  and  fall  have  respect  to 
the  covenant  of  works,  to  our  first  parents,  to  their  posterity, 
and  to  God.  The  covenant  of  works  was  utterly  broken  and 
forever  set  aside  as  a  covenant  under  which  man  should  seek 
justification  before  God  througli  his  own  personal  and  perfect 
righteousness.  The  opportunity  of  thus  meriting  life,  both 
for  himself  and  his  posterity  in  him,  was  by  his  transgression 
lost,  and  lost  beyond  recovery. 

No  provisions  appear  in  the  covenant,  whereby,  after  trans- 
gression, Adam  and  his  posterity  might  escape  the  penalty 
and  regain  the  lost  favor  of  God ;  nor  is  there  the  shadow  of 
a  promise  on  the  part  of  God,  that  in  case  of  transgression  He 
would  interpose  for  Adam's  redemption.  All  that  the  Lord 
said  to  him  was,  "  In  the  day  that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou 
shalt  surely  die ; "  but  while  neither  promises  nor  provisions 
are  expressed  or  implied,  there  is  nothing  in  the  covenant 
itself  exclusive  of  either,  if  such  should  be  the  will  of  God. 

The  transgression  of  Adam,  while  it  breaks  the  covenant 
and  brings  him  hopelessly  under  its  curse,  does  not  set  the 
covenant  aside  in  its  binding  authority  and  condemning  power 
over  him,  and  over  all  his  posterity,  for  whom  he  stood.  Al- 
though God  abates  not  one  jot  or  tittle  of  His  law  embraced 
in  His  covenant  of  works,  because  of  our  apostacy,  His  right 
to  the  love  and  obedience  of  His  creatures  is  not  forfeited  by 
their  rebellion  and  corruption.  Were  He  to  dispense  in  any 
degree  with  the  requirements  of  His  law,  because  they  had 
sinned  and  become  impotent  to  all  good,  He  would  virtually 
dethrone  Himself;  on  the  contrary,  He  declares  it  to  be  holy, 
and  "the  commandment  holy,  just,  and  good,"  Rom.  vii.  12, 
and  promulgates  that  law  as  the  rule  of  duty  to  all  mankind, 
by  which  all  their  thoughts  and  actions  are  to  be  regulated,  and 


56  THE  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

by  whicli  they  will  be  strictly  judged  in  tlie  great  day  of  final 
account.  It  abides  forever  a  rule  of  duty,  but  not  of  justifica- 
tion. Exod.  XX.  17 ;  Matt.  v.  19  ;  xxii.  40  ;  Mark  x.  19  ; 
1  Cor.  vii.  19  ;  1  John  ii.  4 ;  Rev.  xxii.  14 ;  Jas.  ii.  10-12. 

Our  first  parents  lost  the  image  of  God,  in  which  they 
had  been  created,  and  fell  from  their  original  righteousness. 
The  apostacy  was  total ;  the  corruption,  in  all  the  parts  and 
faculties  of  soul  and  body,  entire.  They  lost  all  holy  and  happy 
communion  with  God,  from  whom  they  withdrew,  and  He 
from  them  :  neither  could  they  behold  Him  any  more  in  any 
other  light  than  that  of  an  offended  judge,  to  execute  wrath 
upon  transgressions! 

They  incurred  the  penalty  of  death  annexed  to  the  cove- 
nant, and  felt  in  themselves  the  bitter  effects  of  sin  :  for,  con- 
scious of  guilt,  and  full  of  fear  and  shame,  they  shrunk  away  in 
dread  and  hatred  from  God,  vainly  striving  to  cover  the  shame 
of  their  nakedness,  Gen,  iii.  Y,  8,  feeble,  dying,  condemned 
creatures,  Rom.  viii.  5-8,  awaiting  the  summons  to  judgment 
and_  damnation. 

And  their  trial  under  the  covenant  of  works  was  now 
ended  for  themselves  personally,  and  for  their  posterity  repre- 
sentatively. They  could  never  more  look  to  it  to  give  them 
life,  nor  could  they  satisfy  its  demands  against  them  for  punish- 
ment, nor  upon  them  for  righteousness. 

Adam's  posterity  were  yet  in  his  loins  when  he  sinned,  and 
all  the  consequences  of  his  sin  became  theirs,  as  perfectly  and 
surely,  according  to  God's  ordination,  as  though  each  one  had 
committed  the  sin  for  himself.  All  were  charged  with  the 
guilt  of  Adam's  first  sin  !  As  he  failed  of  perfect  obedience 
and  broke  the  covenant,  so  did  they.  As  he  thereby  lost  his 
original  righteousness  and  communion  with  God,  and  became 
corrupt,  and  incurred  the  penalty  of  death,  so  did  they.  When 
his  trial  ended,  their  trial  ended.  When  he  died,  they  died, 
*'  They  sinned  in  him  and  fell  with  him  in  his  first  transgres- 
sion," and  it  was  this  first  transgression  that  sealed  the  con- 
demnation of  all  men,  so  far  as  their  spiritual  state  and  rela- 
tions to  God  under  the  covenant  are  concerned.  They  have  no 
connection  with  any  other  sin  of  Adam.     His  after  sins  were 


FALL   OF   OTTR   FIRST  PARENTS   AND   ITS   CONSEQUENCES.        57 

personal,  not  representative.  His  first  sin  was  representative 
and  ruined  all.     Gen.  iii.  7-24 ;  Kom.  v.  12-19. 

And  how  does  all  this  take  place  ?  By  imputation — a  doc- 
trine revealed  in  the  very  origin  of  our  race,  and  one  to  be 
preserved  and  defended  by  the  Church  of  God — a  doctrine 
whidi  first  buries  the  race  of  man  in  death,  everlasting  death, 
and  then  raises  it  to  life,  everlasting  life  !  Nor  is  there  any 
possibility  of  constructing  or  comprehending  the  history  of 
the  Church,  without  admitting  it  in  all  its  length,  and  breadth, 
and  depth,  and  height. 

It  first  reveals  itself  under  the  covenant  of  works  :  the  sin 
of  Adam,  the  federal  head,  being  imputed  to  all  his  posterity 
proceeding  from  him  by  ordinary  generations.  To  impute,  is 
to  reckon  or  set  over  anything  to  a  man's  account,  Philemon 
vs.  17,  18 ;  Isa.  liii.  4-6 ;  and  the  imputation  of  sin  in  Scrip- 
ture is  twofold  :  first,  of  our  own  moral  actions  to  ourselves  ;  in 
other  words,  causing  us  to  receive  reward  or  punishment  accord- 
ing to  our  deserts,  2  Sam.  xix.  18-20 ;  Eom.  iv.  8 ;  2  Cor.  v.  19 ; 
and  second,  of  the  moral  actions  of  others  to  us,  as  though  they 
were  our  own,  and  we  had  committed  them  ;  in  other  words, 
rewarding  or  punishing  us,  as  having  actually  done  wliat  was 
done  for  us  and  in  our  stead  by  another.  This  sort  of  imputa- 
tion necessarily  requires  a  union  of  the  closest  sort  between 
the  parties,  naturally  and  justly  constituted,  so  that  the  one 
party  may  be  a  head  or  representative  for  the  other.  There 
cannot  of  course  be  any  transfer  of  moral  acts,  which  is  an  im- 
possibility in  nature  itself;  for  the  actual  obedience  or  disobe- 
dience of  one  moral  and  accountable  agent,  can  never  become 
the  actual  obedience  or  disobedience  of  another.  The  acts 
of  moral  and  accountable  agents  are  personal ;  and  inhere, 
and  adhere,  and  are  their  own  and  cannot  be  another's.  But 
while  there  cannot  be  any  transfer  of  moral  acts  of  others 
to  ourselves,  there  may  be  an  imputation  to  us  of  all  the 
consequences  of  these  acts,  as  perfect,  real,  and  practical, 
as  though  we  had  committed  the  very  acts  ourselves.  And 
this  is  the  sense  in  which  the  sin  of  Adam  is  imputed  to  his 
posterity. 

There  are  three  ways,  as  all  men  know,  whereby  we  may 


5o  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

be  made  sinners  by  the  sin  of  another.  First,  by  adopting  his 
sin  as  our  own,  we  thus  sin  by  consent  and  approbation. 
Again,  by  imitation,  yielding  freely  unto  and  following  his 
evil  examples  ;  and  lastly,  by  imputation,  he  being  our  con- 
stituted representative  to  act  for  us,  and  all  the  consequences 
of  his  sin  being  visited  upon  us,  as  though  we  had  committed 
the  sin  ourselves. 

We  do  indeed  adopt  the  sin  of  our  first  parents,  and  sin  by 
consent  and  approbation,  but  this  will  not  account  for  the 
universality  of  sin  and  punishment,  inasmuch  as  we  sin 
long  before  we  come  to  a  knowledge  of  Adam's  sin,  and  also, 
in  numerous  instances,  suifer  pains  and  death  before  we  have 
arrived  at  the  age  of  accountability. 

The  same  objection  is  urged  with  equal  force  against 
our  sin  and  suffering  being  the  consequence  of  our  yielding 
to  evil  examples  ;  and  it  may  well  be  asked,  if  the  whole 
matter  is  to  be  disposed  of  through  the  force  of  example,  how 
comes  it  to  pass  that  examples  of  sin  are  literally  universal  ? 
Kever  has  there  occurred  one  instance  of  a  perfectly  holy  man 
on  €arth,  save  that  of  the  man  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 

That  the  sin  of  Adam  is  imputed,  in  the  sense  explained, 
to  all  posterity,  is  evinced  from  the  universal  sinfulness  and 
condemnation  of  the  race  being  ascribed  to  Adam's  first  sin. 
Taking  the  Word  of  God,  we  ascend  through  one  generation 
of  sinners  after  another,  until  we  reach  Adam,  the  father  of 
all.  Before  he  sinned  he  was  holy  and  happy  ;  after  he  sinned 
the  scene  changes.  He  becomes  a  sinner,  and  his  posterity 
follow  his  fortunes.  Particular  passages  prove  it.  The  no- 
table one  of  Eom.  v.  12-19  asserts  the  imputation  of  Adam's 
sin  to  all  who  descend  from  him  by  ordinary  generations,  five 
times,  vs.  15, 16, 17, 18, 19  :  "  Through  the  ofifence  of  one  many,'' 
i.  c,  all  his  natural  posterity,  "  are  dead."  The  one  offence  kills 
tliem  temporally,  spiritually,  and  eternally.  "  The  judgment 
was  by  one,"  i.  e.,  offence,  "  to  condemnation."  The  sentence 
of  God  which  condemned  Adam  for  his  one  offence,  passed 
upon  the  whole  race.  "  By  one  man's  offence  death  reigned 
by  one."  The  one  man's  offence  caused  death  to  reign  over 
all.     "  By  the  offence  of  one,  judgment  came  upon  all  men  to 


FALL   OF   OUK   FIRST   PAEENTS   AND   ITS   CONSEQUENCES.        59 

condemnation."  The  Lord  judged  all  men  to  condemnation 
for  the  offence  of  one.  "  By  one  man's  disobedience,  many  were 
made  sinners."  On  account  of  his  disobedience  they  were 
constituted  sinners — so  made,  so  treated,  as  though  the  dis- 
obedience of  Adam  was  their  own.  Tlie  Apostle  had  proved 
in  the  first,  second,  and  third  chapters  of  Komans,  that  the 
whole  race,  Jew  and  Gentile,  lies  under  sin  and  death,  and 
in  this  passage  gives  the  reason  why  it  is  so,  v.  12,  "  As  by 
one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin,  and  so 
death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned."  All 
come  to  be  sinners,  because  one  man  sinned ;  and  death  passes 
upon  all,  "  because  all  have  sinned,"  not.  indeed  actually  and 
personally  for  themselves  ;  for,  when  sin  entered  into  the 
world,  and  death,  the  wages  of  sin,  passed  in  the  condemnation 
of  God  upon  all  men,  the  "  all  men  "  had  no  existence  ;  they 
were  not  yet  in  being  ;  consequently,  they  were  considered  as 
sinners  in  Adam,  their  federal  head. 

The  main  design  of  the  Apostle  in  the  passage  proves  the 
same  thing,  for  he  institutes  a  comparison  between  Adam 
and  Christ  our  Lord  in  the  matter  of  condemnation  and  jus- 
tification. He  proves  the  one  by  the  other.  As  the  ofience 
of  Adam  is  imputed  to  all  men  for  condemnation,  so  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ  is  imputed  to  all  men  for  justification  ;  "  for 
as  by  one  man's  disobedience  many  were  made  sinners,"  so 
made  by  the  imputation  to  them  of  the  disobedience  of  Adam, 
"  so  by  the  obedience  of  one  shall  many  be  made  righteous," 
so  made  by  the  imputation  of  Christ's  obedience  to  them. 
Imputation  is  proved  further  in  the  14th  verse,  where  death  is 
said  to  reign  even  over  those  who  had  not  sinned  after  the 
similitude  of  Adam's  transgression,  i.  e.,  in  an  intelligent 
manner,  against  known  and  declared  precepts  of  God,  which 
can  refer  to  infants  only  ;  and  their  sufferings  and  death,  prior 
to  the  age  of  personal  accountability,  prove  the  imputation 
of  Adam's  sin  to  them. 

A  remark  may  be  permitted  here — namely,  that  the  extent 
of  the  imputation  of  Adam's  disobedience  is  not  the  measure 
of  the  imputation  of  Christ's  obedience ;  for  the  imputation 
of  Adam's  sin  is  upon  all  his  natural  posterity,  for  whom  he 


60  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

stood,  and  consequently  reaches  to  every  man ;  but  the  im- 
putation of  Christ's  righteousness  is  upon  all  his  spiritual  seed, 
for  whom  He  stood  in  the  covenant  of  grace  as  their  repre- 
sentative and  surety,  and  consequently  reaches  only  to  as 
many  as  the  Father  hath  given  Him  to  be  saved.  The  passage 
therefore  gives  no  support  to  the  doctrine  of  universal  salva- 
tion— a  doctrine  which  is  not  only  opposed  to  the  rest  of  the 
Epistle,  but  to  all  the  Word  of  God  beside. 

And  the  Apostle  Paul  furnishes  another  passage  in  proof, 
1  Cor.  XV.  21-22,  "  For  since  by  man  came  death,  by  man 
came  also  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  ;  for  as  in  Adam  all 
die,  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive."  Without  en- 
tering into  a  fall  explanation  of  the  passage,  it  is  enough  to 
remark  that  Adam  brought  death  to  his  race.  In  Adam  all 
die.  This  is  sufficient.  The  sin  of  Adam  was  imputed  to  all 
his  posterity ;  but  the  principle  of  imputation  of  sin  is  not 
isolated  in  the  case  of  Adam  under  the  covenant  of  works, 
but  runs  through  the  Word  of  God ;  and  there  are  not  only 
frequent  avowals,  but  many  examples  of  it.  How  clear  the 
avowal  in  the  Second  Commandment,  Exod.  xx.  5  !  Saith  God, 
"  For  I,  the  Lord  thy  God,  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the 
iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children,  unto  the  third  and 
fourth  generations  of  them  that  hate  me,  &c."  Compare  Exod. 
xxxiv.  5-7  ;  ISTumbs.  xiv.  18  ;  Job  xxi.  19  ;  Jer.  xxxii.  18. 
Our  Saviour  makes  a  similar  avowal  in  Matt,  xxiii.  35. 
And  observe  the  examples  in  the  case  of  Achan,  Joshua,  vii, 
24-25  ;  of  the  Amalekites,  1  Sam.  xv.  2-3  ;  of  the  sons  of 
Saul,  2  Sam.  xxi;  of  Jeroboam,  1  Kings  xiv.  9-10;  and  of 
Ahab,  1  Kings  xxi.  21-22  ;  and  others. 

And,  to  add  no  more,  imputation  of  sin  appears  in  God's 
providential  government  of  the  world.  Mankind  do  suffer, 
and  often  sorely,  for  the  sins  of  their  representatives,  either 
natural  or  appointed — subjects,  for  the  sins  of  their  rulers ; 
children,  for  the  sins  of  their  parents ;  servants,  for  the  sins 
of  their  masters,  &c. 

The  Lord  claims  the  imputation  of  sin  as  His  prerogative 
alone,  and  forbids  it  to  earthly  rulers  of  every  kind.  Deut. 
xxiv.  16.     Nor  is  the  passage  in  Ezek.  xviii.  20,—"  The  soul 


FALL   OF   OUR   FIRST    PARENTS   AND   ITS   CONSEQUENCES.        61 

that  sinneth,  it  shall  die.  The  son  shall  not  bear  the  iniquity  of 
the  father ;  neither  shall  the  father  bear  the  iniquity  of  the 
son," — any  contradiction  to  the  principle  when  properly  under- 
.stood  ;  for  the  Lord  is  answering  the  objections  of  the  people 
against  His  inflictions,  by  pleading  that  they  suffer  for  their 
fathers'  sins,  v.  2  :  "  The  fathers  have  eaten  sour  grapes,  and 
tlie  children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge."  On  the  contrary.  He 
says  He  is  punishing  them  for  their  own  sins.  The  Lord  will 
not  contradict  His  own  words. 

Tlie  sin  of  our  first  parents  left  them  wholly  at  the  mercy 
of  God ;  for,  in  strict  justice,  He  was  under  no  more  obliga- 
tion to  interpose  in  any  way  to  avert  from  them  and  their 
posterity  the  penalty  of  His  violated  law,  than  He  was  in  the 
case  of  the  Apostate  Angels. 

The  issue  of  the  covenant  of  works  in  the  fall  was  fore- 
ordained ;  because  the  covenant  of  grace,  or  the  provision  of 
salvation  by  a  Redeemer,  which  necessarily  presupposed  the 
covenant  of  works  and  the  fall  of  man,  was  foreordained  before 
the  foundation  of  the  world.  1  Pet.  i.  19-20 ;  Rev.  xiii.  8  ; 
xvii.  8  ;  Eph.  i,  3-4 ;  Matt.  xxv.  34  ;  John  xvii.  21  ;  Acts 
XV.  18  ;  Rom.  xi.  33,  38. 

The  great  lesson  taught,  both  by  the  fall  of  man  and  the 
angels,  is  the  weakness  and  frailty  of  God's  accountable  crea- 
tm*es,  and  their  absolute  dependence  upon  His  power  and 
sovereignty  for  support  in  all  things. 

The  reason  of  the  permission  of  the  fall,  and  thereby  the  in- 
troduction of  the  dreadful  evil  of  sin  into  the  world,  is  one  of 
those  "  secret  things  which  belong  unto  the  Lord,"  Deut. 
xxix.  29 — one  of  His  "  unsearchable  judgments  "  and  "  ways 
past  finding  out."  Rom.  xi.  32-36.  When  we  ask  the  reason 
for  the  permission  of  sin,  wliich  is  indeed  but  a  part  of  God's 
great  work  of  the  creation,  government,  and  salvation  of  the 
world,  we  might,  with  equal  propriety  and  with  equal  pros- 
pect of  success,  ask  for  the  reason  of  the  whole,  which  would 
be  to  require  of  God  an  account  of  His  matters,  which  He 
giveth  to  none.  Job.  xxxiii.  13  ;  xl.  2  ;  Isa.  xlvi.  9-10 ;  Dan. 
iv.  35.  Were  His  infinite  and  eternal  counsels  made  known 
to  us,  could   we  with  our  finite   minds  comprehend  them? 


62  THE   HISTOKY   OF  THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

Alas !  no.  Faith  in  God  as  God  prompts  to  implicit  con- 
fidence, and  makes  ns  feel  that,  although  "  clouds  and  darkness 
are  round  about  Him,  righteousness  and  judgment  are  tlie 
habitation  of  His  throne,"  Ps.  xcvii.  2  ;  and  the  wisdom,  honor, 
justice,  goodness,  and  mercy,  wondrously  revealed  in  the  fall 
and  redemption  of  man,  awaken  our  profoundest  admiration 
and  gratitude  ;  and  we  adoringly  exclaim  with  the  Apostle, 
"  O  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowl- 
edge of  God !  how  unsearchable  are  His  judgments,  and  His 
ways  past  finding  out !  for  of  Him,  and  through  Him,  and  to 
Him,  are  all  things  :  to  whom  be  glory  forever.  Amen."  Kom. 
xi.  32-36. 

Nor  are  we  to  admit,  from  the  fact  of  God's  permission  of 
sin,  that  He  is  the  culpable  author  of  sin.  However  men  may 
reason  themselves  into  that  belief  (and  for  the  purpose  gen- 
erally of  casting  reproach  upon  the  Most  High,  and  relieving 
themselves  of  the  distressing  guilt  of  sin),  after  all,  there 
is  a  distrust  of  the  solidness  of  their  conclusions,  and  an  in- 
stinctive drawing  back  from  it.  It  is  horrible  in  the  creature 
to  charge  God  with  folly.  When  the  matter  comes  fully  be- 
fore the  mind,  we  prefer  to  acknowledge  and  to  defend  the 
infinite  purity  of  our  Creator.  While  He,  in  His  sovereignty, 
in  a  most  truly  wise  and  powerful  manner,  governs  all  His 
creatures  and  all  their  actions,  whether  in  heaven,  in  earth, 
or  in  hell.  His  sovereignty  neither  interferes  with,  nor  de- 
stroys their  free  agency  and  accountability.  How  this  har- 
monious co-working  of  God  and  His  creatures  is  carried  on  in 
the  accomplishment  of  His  purposes,  whether  of  wrath  or  of 
mercy ;  where  the  lines  of  human  and  divine  agency  meet,  and 
not  only  coexist  but  also  consist  the  one  with  the  other,  hes 
beyond  our  comprehension  ;  and  yet,  to  the  fact  that  they 
must  and  do  so  coexist  and  consist,  our  reason  and  our  con- 
sciousness, and  our  moral  judgments,  all  give  their  assent, 
especially  when  we  hear  God  Himself  emphatically  denying 
that  He  is  the  culpable  author  of  sin,  and  all  His  inspired 
Prophets  and  Apostles  repelling  the  idea  with  holy  indigna- 
tion, Deut.  xxxii.  4  ;  Job  xl.  8  ;  Gen.  xviii.  25  ;  Rom.  iii.  4-8  ; 
1  Cor.  i.  18 ;  Titus  i.  2 ;  Heb.  vi.  18  ;   1  John  i.  5  ;  J  as.  i.  13  ; 


FALL    OF   OUR   FIRST   PARENTS   AND    ITS   CONSEQUENCES.        63 

Acts  iv.  27-28  ;  iii.  10-19  ;  ii.  22-23  ;  Matt.  xi.  25.  TVe  con- 
clude that  for  infinitely  wise  and  just  purposes  the  intro- 
duction of  sin  has  been  allowed.  A  holy  God  will  overrule  it 
to  His  own  glory,  and  the  ultimate  good,  of  the  universe. 
Other  than  this  we  dare  not  say. 


64  THE   HISTOKT   OF  THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD, 


CHAPTER    YII. 


SALVATIOK      PEOVIDBD. 


The  trial  of  our  first  parents  is  over — tliey  have  fallen,  and 
the  whole  world  lies  guilty  before  God.  "  And  they  heard 
the  voice  of  the  Lord  God,  walking  in  the  garden  in  the  cool 
of  the  day  ;  and  Adam  and  his  wife  hid  themselves  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord  amongst  the  trees  of  the  garden."  Jer. 
xxiii.  34 ;  Amos  ix.  2-3  ;  Heb.  iv.  12-13.  They  are  called  ; 
their  guilt  is  charged  upon  them  ;  Adam  would  lay  the  blame 
upon  the  woman,  and  the  woman  upon  the  serpent.  Prov. 
XV.  3  ;  Job  xxxi.  33  ;  Ps.  cxix.  120  ;  1  John  iii.  20.  They  have 
awaited  the  sentence  of  "  death."  The  transgressors  are  dealt 
mth  in  order.  "  And  the  Lord  God  said  unto  the  serpent, 
'  Because  thou  hast  done  this,  thou  art  cursed  above  all  cattle, 
and  above  every  beast  of  the  field  :  upon  thy  belly  shalt  thou 
go,  and  dust  shalt  thou  eat  all  the  days  of  thy  life.' "  Mark 
xvi.  18  ;  Luke  x.  19  ;  Acts  xxviii.  1-6.  Satan,  the  efficient 
cause  of  the  fall,  was  cursed  through  the  instrument  which  he 
made  use  of ;  and  the  miserable  condition  of  the  serpent 
among  the  cattle  and  beasts  of  the  field,  a  visible  representative 
indeed  to  men  of  Satan  himself,  was  to  be  his  condition 
among  the  intelligent  and  accountable  creatures  of  God — the 
lowest,  vilest,  and  most  despised  and  warned  against,  of  them 
all !  He  bears  in  his  own  person  the  guilt  of  the  ruin  of  the 
legions  of  fallen  angels,  and  of  the  race  of  men  !  and  for  him 
the  everlasting  fire  is  prepared.  Matt.  xxv.  41.  And  the  Lord 
continues  his  address  to  Satan,  "  And  I  will  put  enmity  be- 


SALVATION    PROVIDED.  65 

tween  thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and  her 
seed  ;  it  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel." 

Satan  departs  in  dismay  ;  for  he  that  had  the  power  of 
death  should  be  destroyed,  Heb.  ii.  14-15,  and  man  deliver- 
ed from  his  bondage  and  crowned  with  glory  !  Upon  "  them 
whidi  sat  in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death,  light  is  sprung 
up."  "  Through  the  tender  mercy  of  our  God,"  "  the  Sun  of 
righteousness "  sheds  his  beams  upon  a  lost  world !  Mai. 
iv.  2  ;  Luke  ii.  78-79.  Herein  have  we  the  first  proclamation 
of  the  glorious  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God,  made  by  the  Lord 
Jehovah  himself!  both  promise  and  prophecy — a  promise  of 
salvation,  and  a  prophecy  of  the  opposition  which  it  is  to  meet 
with  in  the  world,  and  of  its  final  triumph  and  glory.  Herein 
is  Christ  Jesus,  "  the  first  and  the  last,"  "  the  author  and  the 
finisher  of  our  faith,"  "  the  corner-stone,"  "  the  rock "  upon 
which  the  Church  is  built  ;  and  here  the  foundation  of  the 
Church  is  laid,  and  here  its  existence  begins,  and  its  history 
takes  its  rise  in  this  world. 

This  remarkable  passage  has  three  members :  1.  "I  will 
put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman."  2.  "  And  be- 
tween thy  seed  and  her  seed."  3.  "  It  shall  bruise  thy  head, 
and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel." 

The  design  of  Satan  was  to  ruin  the  work  of  God  and  the 
happiness  of  man,  by  drawing  him  away  from  God,  and  form- 
ing a  union  of  friendship  and  rebellion.  That  design  the 
Lord  frustrates,  and  that  union  He  defeats,  by  putting 
"  enmity  "  between  Satan  and  the  woman  ;  the  woman  here 
standing  as  the  representative  of  her  race,  and  being  mentioned 
because  it  was  with  her  Satan  began  and  consummated  his 
temptation.  In  consequence  of  God's  putting  "  enmity  "  be- 
tween them,  on  the  one  hand,  although  Satan  has  a  friendship 
for  and  a  union  of  feeling  and  purpose  with  his  angels,  yet 
he  has  no  friendship  for  man — him  he  pursues  with  hatred 
even,  if  possible,  to  his  eternal  death  !  So,  on  the  ocher  hand, 
although  depraved,  man  yields  himself  a  willing  captive  to 
Satan  ;  yet,  when  he  views  him  as  he  is,  a  being  of  un- 
mitigated evil,  his  subtle  deceiver,  the  murderer  of  his  soul 
and  of  his  body,  his  worst  and  bitterest  enemy,  he  hates  him. 
5 


66  THE    niSTOEY    OF   THE   CHUECH    OF   GOD. 

Hence  to  accuse  a  man  of  leaguing  with  the  Devil,  is  to  prefer 
the  vilest  and  blackest  charge  against  him.     Matt.  xii.  24. 

"  Seed,"  in  Scripture,  is  that  which  is  produced  by  a  parent 
stock,  and  which  in  turn  will  produce  and  propagate  a  like 
kind — as  the  seed  of  plants,  and  the  seed  of  animals ;  or,  it 
is  that  which  is  intimately  allied  in  nature,  and  partakes  of 
the  character  of  some  head  or  stock,  and  follows  its  lead  and 
government — as  believers  are  called  "  the  seed  of  Abraham  ;  " 
and  this  latter  is  the  sense  of  seed  in  the  passage.  The  fallen 
angels  are  the  seed  of  Satan,  because  (to  use  the  expression) 
they  are  begotten  by  him  in  iniquity,  and  do  partake  of  his 
character,  and  submit  to  his  rule  and  government.  And 
fallen  men,  who  continue  in  their  iniquity,  for  tlie  same  reason 
are  the  seed  of  Satan.  "  Ye  are  of  your  father  the  Devil,  and 
the  lusts  of  your  father  ye  mil  do,"  saith  our  Lord.  John 
viii.  44  ;  xii.  31 ;  xvi.  11 ;  .xiv.  30  ;  Matt.  iii.  7  ;  xii.  34 ; 
xiii.  38  ;  xxiii.  33  ;  Acts  xiii.  10 ;  Eom.  iii.  13 ;  Eph.  ii.  2  ; 
2  Tim.  ii.  26 ;  1  John  iii,  8-10.  These  angels,  and  these  men 
do  partake  of  the  wicked  nature,  and  exhibit  the  wicked 
character  of  Satan,  and  are  under  his  rule  and  government : 
and  are  truly  "  his  seed,"  and  a  seed  bearing  "  enmity  " — an 
enmity  like  to  his  own  :  implacable,  and  perpetual. 

"  The  seed  of  the  woman  "  is  one,  and  includes  also  all 
who  partake  of  His  nature  and  character,  and  submit  to  His 
rule  and  government.  The  Lord  saith,  "  Between  thy  seed 
and  her  seed."  The  language  is  peculiar  and  emphatic.  It  is 
not  the  seed  of  the  man  and  of  the  woman;  bnt  it  is  "her 
seed" — a  seed  to  proceed  from  her  and  her  alone,  and  not 
another,  and  necessarily  partakes  of  her  humanity :  a  seed 
born  out  of  that  regular  order  and  course  of  nature  which 
was  ordained  by  the  Lord  at  the  creation.  Gen.  i.  27-28  and 
ii.  21-24.  Consequently,  the  production  of  this  seed  must  be 
superhuman,  even  by  the  extraordinary  power  of  the  Most 
High  ;  and  it  must  be  designed  for  the  accomplishment  of  ex- 
traordinary purjioses. 

That  no  strain  is  put  upon  the  words,  and  no  forced  inter- 
pretation given,  is  evident  from  the  reference  made  to  this 
seed  in  the  third  member  of  the  sentence:  "It  shall  bruise 


SALVATION    PROVIDED.  67 

thy  head."  The  singular  pronoun  fixes  the  sense  :  the  seed 
is  one ;  and  that  one  seed  is  a  son ;  for,  although  the  Hebrew 
personal  prononn  of  the  third  person  is,  in  tlie  books  of  Moses, 
in  different  passages,  of  common  gender,  standing  for  she  as 
well  as  he,  yet  here  it  is  to  be  taken  in  its  true  masculine 
form,  and  designates  a  son.  And  of  this  interpretation  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  the  infallible  author.  Thus  He  explained  the 
passage  in  all  the  Scriptures  given  by  His  own  inspiration. 
The  following  citations  are  in  proof :  Isa.  vii.  14 ;  ix.  6-7 ; 
Jer.  xxxi.  22  ;  Micah.  v.  2-3 ;  Matt.  i.  13-25  ;  Luke  i.  26-37 ; 
ii.  1-19  ;  John  i.  14 ;  iii.  16-36 ;  Rom.  viii.  32  ;  Gal.  iv.  4 ; 
iii.  16  ;  1  John  iv.  10-14,  &c.  And  this  is  the  sense  in  which 
it  was  understood  by  our  first  parents ;  for  the  merciful  God 
shut  not  up  in  darkness  the  words  which  He  ordained  to  be 
tlieir  life. 

To  proceed  with  the  interpretation  :  Satan  is  brought  for- 
ward as  the  head  or  representative  of  all  his  seed,  "  I  will  put 
enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed 
and  her  seed."  The  special  contest  is  to  lie  between  Satan 
and  her  seed.  The  woman  is  not  to. bruise  his  head,  but  her 
seed  is.  This  seed  is  to  come  and  break  the  power  of  Satan, 
and  deliver  fallen  men  ;  and  of  all  he  delivers,  he  must  needs 
be  the  head  and  representative.  The  seed  of  the  woman 
therefore  is  one,  and  all  are  included  in  Him,  wlio  partake 
of  His  hol}^  nature  and  character,  and  submit  to  His  rule 
and  government.  Hence,  not  all  the  natural  seed  of  our  first 
parents  are  saved,  but  that  part  only  who  are  delivered  by  the 
seed  of  the  woman,  and  are  included  in  Him. 

This  enmity  between  the  seed  of  Satan  and  the  seed  of  the 
woman,  grows  out  of  the  very  nature  of  holiness  and  sin,  the 
two  being  opposites  and  irreconcilable.  Satan  and  his  seed 
being  sinful,  will  forever  hate  and  rebel  against  a  Ploly  God; 
and  God  being  immutably  holy,  can  never  tolerate,  but  will 
forever  express  His  hatred  against  their  sin.  Satan  and  his 
seed  give  expression  to  their  enmity  in  every  form  of  opposi- 
tion and  ill-will  which  their  ingenious  wickedness  can  devise 
and  their  circumstances  permit ;  and  there  is  no  work  against 
the  glory  or  happiness,  or  even  the  existence  of  God  and  His 


68  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

people,  wliicli,  if  unrestrained,  they  would  not  exert  themselves 
to  acconiplish ! 

We  now  reacla  the  third  member  of  the  sentence :  "  It  (or 
He)  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel." 
The  enmity  upon  either  side  comes  into  collision,  and  the 
progress  and  final  end  of  the  warfare  are  declared.  On  the 
one  side  Satan  shall  bruise  the  heel  of  the  seed  of  the  woman. 

The  contrast  lies  between  "  the  heel  of  the  seed,"  and  "  the 
head  of  Satan."  The  power  of  Satan  will  be  only  to  annoy ; 
the  power  of  the  seed  will  be  to  overwhelm ;  the  bruise  on  the 
one  part  will  be  slight ;  but  on  the  other,  fatal.  "  Bruising  the 
heel"  intimates  the  despicable  malignity  and  cowardly  as- 
saults of  Satan — a  treacherous  serpent  in  the  grass, — to  beset 
the  footsteps  of  the  seed  of  the  woman,  and  give  him  pain 
and  suffering,  and  so  impede  his  way  and  his  work,  2  Cor.  iv. 
3-4 ;  Eph.  vi.  12 ;  John  xiii.  2,  27 ;  but  he  shall  not  be  able 
to  touch  his  life,  nor  ultimately  defeat  his  purposes,  nor  resist 
his  power.  Gen.  xlix.  IT  ;  Matt.  iv.  1-11 ;  Luke  xxii.  52-53  ; 
John  xiv.  30  ;  Heb.  ii.  14. 

But  the  seed  of  the  woman  shall  bruise  his  head — the 
chief  member  of  the  body — the  seat  of  life,  of  wisdom,  and 
power  and  glory  of  the  creature.  To  bruise  the  head  is  not 
only  to  treat  with  indignity,  Matt,  xxvii.  30,  but  also  to  van- 
quish all  wisdom  and  power,  and  to  destroy  life  itself,  Ps. 
Ixviii.  21 ;  Amos  ix.  1-4.  The  head  of  Satan  shall  be  low 
and  exposed,  and  unprotected  in  the  combat ;  and  he  shall  be 
spoiled  of  his  prey.  Acts  xxvi.  18  ;  Col.  i.  13  ;  John  xii.  31,  and 
stripped  of  his  sovereignty,  and  crushed  under  the  feet  of  his 
mighty  enemy,  Job  xl.  12  ;  Isa.  Ixiii.  3  ;  Mai.  iv.  3  ;  Luke  x.  19  ; 
xxi.  12-15,  and  never  be  able  to  rise,  but  be  destroyed  ever- 
more, Eom.  xvi.  20 ;  Eph.  iv.  8 ;  Col.  ii.  15  ;  Heb.  ii.  14-15  ; 
1  John  iii.  5-8  ;  v.  5  ;  Rev.  xii.  7-11 ;  xx.  1-3,  10 ;  Matt. 
XXV.  41 ;  Jude  vi. ;  2  Pet.  ii.  4. 

This  promise  and  prediction  revealed  glad  tidings  of  great 
joy  to  our  fallen  and  afflicted  first  parents.  They  now  learn- 
ed that  sentence  of  death  should  not  instantly  be  executed 
upon  them,  but  that  they  should  be  placed  under  a  dispensa- 
tion of  grace  and  salvation ;  that  Satan,  who  had  led  them  by 


SALVATION    PKOVIDED.  69 

transgression  into  death,  would  be  destroyed ;  that  their  salva- 
tion was  to  be  effected  by  the  seed  of  the  woman,  provided 
and  appointed  of  (orod  for  that  purpose,  to  whom  would  be 
the  glory  ;  that  the  seed  although  now  only  promised,  and  here- 
after to  be  revealed,  yet  would  be  even  from  the  beginning 
their  present  and  loving  Saviour.  His  salvation  was  for  them 
and  all  the  race  ;  and,  consequently.  He  was  to  be  embraced  by 
faith.  Hence  repentance  towards  God  and  faith  in  the  Re- 
deemer has  been  the  way  of  life  to  lost  sinners  since  the 
foundation  of  the  world.     Ps.  cxxx.  1-4  ;  1  John  iv.  19. 

This  pregnant  and  precious  passage  has  been  considered 
obscure,  and  as  conveying  ideas  of  salvation  to  our  first  parents 
of  the  most  vague  and  general  character — indeed,  so  much  so, 
that  they  could  only  grope  their  way  into  life  by  the  light 
of  it.     "We  take  different  ground. 

That  our  first  parents  and  their  immediate  posterity  de- 
rived from  this  promise,  and  from  the  institution  of  sacrifices 
occurring  in  immediate  connection  with  and  in  explanation 
of  it,  satisfactory  views  of  the  plan  of  redemption,  is  undeni- 
able ;  for  the  Holy  Spirit  refers  to  it  as  one  understood  by 
all  those  to  whom  it  was  addressed,  which  He  sealed  to  God's 
people,  working  in  them  by  it  an  intelligent  saving  faith, 
which  reached  forward  and  laid  hold  of  the  person  and  justi- 
fying righteousness  of  the  great  Redeemer  to  come,  and  which 
purified  the  heart  and  overcame  the  world.  Such,  for  ex- 
ample, was  the  faith  of  Abel,  and  the  faith  of  Enoch,  the 
seventh  from  Adam,  Heb.  xi.  1-6  ;  and,  when  we  consult  the 
prophecy  of  Enoch,  we  learn  that  in  these  early  ages  the 
knowledge  which  the  people  of  God  possessed  of  this  "  seed 
of  the  woman,"  was  both  particular  and  extensive.  Enoch 
enthrones  Him  as  the  Lord — the  future  Judge  of  all  the 
earth — clothes  Him  with  omniscience  and  omnipotence,  witli 
infinite  holiness  and  justice,  and  arms  Him  with  vengeance 
against  the  wicked  rejecters  of  His  grace  and  salvation.  Jude, 
vs.  14-15.  "  And  Enoch  also,  the  seventh  from  Adam, 
prophesied  of  these,  saying:  Behold,  the  Lord  cometh  with 
ten  thousand  of  His  saints,  to  execute  judgment  upon  all,  and 
to  convince  all  that  are  ungodly  among  them  of  all  their  un- 


70  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF    GOD. 

godly  deeds  whicli  they  have  ungodly  committed,  and  of  all 
their  hard  speeches  which  ungodly  sinners  have  spoken  against 
Him."  He  was  "  a  sign  "  even  then  "  spoken  against."  Luke 
ii.  S4c. 

And  can  it  be  overlooked  that  this  promise  was  designed 
for  the  comfort  of  perishing  sinners,  and  that  for  very  many 
ages  ?  Can  it  be  presumed,  without  a  most  wicked  reflection 
upon  the  goodness  of  oiu*  Heavenly  Father,  that  He  would  do 
otherwise  than  make  that  way  of  salvation  plain  ?  How 
otherwise  could  sinners  understand  and  embrace  it  ? 

Let  it  be  farther  considered  that  the  plan  of  redemption 
presents  a  connected  series  of  particular  truths  and  promises 
which  make  their  appeal  to  the  character  and  condition  of 
such  as  are  objects  and  subjects  of  redemption  ;  and  that  they 
must,  in  and  for  themselves  (by  divine  grace),  acknowledge 
these  truths,  and  embrace  these  promises  :  otherwise,  they  can 
have  no  connection  with  redemption,  nor  any  experience  of 
its  reality  and  power.  Allowing  this  to  be  so,  look  at  the 
condition  of  our  first  parents,  at  the  time  tliis  promise  of  salva- 
tion was  made  in  their  hearing.  They  had  sinned,  and  con. 
sequently  forfeited  forever  the  favor  of  God,  and  were  exposed 
to  the  penalty  of  "  death."  They  possessed  neither  ability 
nor  inclination  of  will  to  return  to  God :  and  not  only  were 
destitute  of  all  righteousness  for  justification,  but  could  in  no 
way  whatever  take  the  first  step  towards  the  finding  of  any 
method  of  communion  and  reconciliation  with  God.  All  this 
was  a  matter  of  fact  and  of  experience  to  them.  This  their 
deplorable  condition  called  for  relief :  they  needed  some  form 
of  redemption  that  would  precisely  meet  it.  Redemption  could 
originate  and  proceed  from  a  sovereign  God  alone,  and  be 
the  fruit  of  His  own  free  and  unsearchable  love  and  mercy  : 
and  so  in  this  passage  God  does  originate  and  propose  re- 
demption ;  and  their  redemption  from  the  curse  of  God's  law 
could  not  possibly  be  accomplished  by  themselves,  nor  for 
them  by  any  other  mere  creatures,  either  in  heaven  or  in  earth  ; 
for  the  highest  and  holiest  of  creatures  can  never  do  more 
than  their  own  duty  for  their  acceptance  with  God.  There 
must,   therefore,   of  necessity,  be   one  provided,   every   way 


SALVATION    PKOVIDED.  71 

mighty,  to  do  all  for  tlieir  salvation  which  was  necessary  to 
be  done — one  who  could  and  who  had  a  right,  if  he  chose,  to 
become  a  curse  for  them,  and  also  deliver  their  souls  from  the 
power  and  corruption  of  sin,  God  appointed  such  an  one  in 
"  the  seed  of  the  woman."  And  how  "  the  seed  of  the  woman  " 
was  to  become  their  Redeemer,  was  discovered  in  the  institu- 
tion of  sacrifices,  which  immediately  followed  the  promise  of 
Him.  He  was  to  effect  their  redemption  on  the  principle  of 
substitution.  The  bleeding  and  the  burning  sacrifice  t^^jified 
the  great  sacrifice  of  "  the  seed  of  the  woman."  It  was  im- 
possible for  the  blood  of  the  sacrificed  animals  to  take  away 
sin  ;  but  the  believing  worshipper  looked  through  the  shadow 
to  tlie  substance,  and  rested  upon  the  superior  efiicacy  of  the 
blood  to  be  shed  in  due  time  for  him,  by  "  the  seed  of  the 
woman."  It  was  a  sacrifice  prepared  by  God  Himself,  and 
therefore  perfect  and  accepted  with  Him,  and,  in  like  manner, 
should  be  deemed  perfect,  and  should  be  relied  on  by  the 
sinner.  As  a  necessary  inference,  this  "  seed  of  the  woman," 
however  mysterious  his  person  might  be,  nevertheless  must 
be  sinless,  of  exalted  nature,  in  intimate  fellowship  with  God  ; 
and,  as  the  work  which  He  was  to  perform  required  divine 
attributes,  the  Redeemer  of  their  souls  could  be  to  them  none 
other  than  an  object  of  divine  confidence  and  worship ;  and, 
as  He  was  provided  of  God  for  them  in  this  office,  the  honor 
rendered  Him  must  be  honor  rendered  to  God  also,  and  re- 
dound to  His  glory.  The  infinite  love  and  compassion  of  God 
here  beam  effulgently  ;  and  the  rebels  are  melted,  and  sub- 
dued, and  saved.  While  the  peculiar  and  mysterious  constitu- 
tion of  the  person  of  the  Redeemer,  and  where  and  when  He 
should  become  incarnate,  and  appear ;  how  He  should  labor, 
sufier,  and  die  as  a  sacrifice  for  sin,  and  rise  from  the  dead 
and  ascend  to  heaven, — while  all  these  things,  and  others 
relating  to  Him  were  not  revealed  as  they  were  in  after  ages, 
yet  He  was,  in  all  His  personality,  and  power,  and  grace,  suffi 
ciently  revealed,  to  be  the  great  object  of  faith  and  salvation 
to  His  people  from  the  beginning,  even  before  our  first  parents 
were  driven  out  of  Paradise. 


72  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHinaCH   OF    GOD. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE  TEMPOEAL  JUDGMEXT3  ON  THE  TEANSGRESSOES. — ADAM  AND  EVE  THE 
PAEENTS  OF  THE  WHOLE  HUMAN  FAMILY. — THE  ORIGIN  AND  INSTITU- 
TION  OF   SACRIFICES. 

Salvation  liaving  been  provided,  certain  permanent  tem- 
poral judgments,  suited  to  tlieir  sex,  condition,  and  labors 
in  life,  were  imposed  upon  Adam  and  Eve  as  representatives 
of  their  race — memorials  of  God's  displeasure,  and  of  their 
fallen,  condemned,  and  suiFering  state  ! 

The  woman  being  lirst  in  transgression,  is  first  in  judgment, 
with  a  twofold  affliction — in  the  sorrows  of  a  mother,  and  the 
sorrows  of  a  wife. 

At  best,  a  burden  is  the  desire  of  her  inmost  soul ;  but 
how  frequently  attended  with  excitement,  and  fears,  and  faint- 
ings  and  painfulness,  and  watchings  and  sickness  !  and  some- 
times life  goes  for  life  ! — Isa.  xxvi.  IT ;  Gren.  xxxv.  16-19 ; 
1  Sam.  iv,  19-22 — a  period  of  tenderness,  when  unkindness 
or  exposure,  and  suiferings  and  hardships,  are  most  difficult  to 
be  borne.  Matt.  xxiv.  19  ;  2  Kings  viii.  12  ;  xv.  16.  The 
multiplying  of  men,  which,  in  a  state  of  iunocency,  would  have 
been  light,  and  but  the  multiplying  of  joy,  is,  in  consequence 
of  sin,  turned  into  sorrow. 

Let  her  husband  as  a  man  be  what  he  may  ;  let  him  be  to 
her  what  he  will,  she  is  bound  by  bars  of  steel.  Her  desire  is 
to  him,  and  because  he  is  her  husband  ;  and  there  is  a  weighty 
meaning  in  the  words,  "  And  he  shall  rule  over  thee."  The 
mild  and  affectionate  rule  of  the  husband,  in  a  state  of  inno- 


TEMPORAL   JUDGMENTS   ON   THE   TRANSGRESSOKS.  73 

cency,  is,  in  a  state  of  sin,  too  frequently  exchanged  (especially 
wliere  the  restraining  and  reforming  influences  of  the  Gospel 
are  unknown)  for  a  rule  of  harshness,  and  injustice,  and  unfeel- 
ing tyranny. 

On  the  man  falls  a  threefold  affliction.  First,  a  rebellious 
soil.  Before  his  sin,  the  earth  owned  her  Lord,  and  joyfully 
yielded  her  increase  in  abundance  ;  but  afterwards  she  refuses  to 
respond  to  his  toil,  and  casts  up  thorns  and  thistles  to  choke  his 
seed  and  blast  his  hopes.  Secondly,  sorrow^ful  and  perpetutil 
labor  for  a  support  even  unto  death.  The  world  of  mankind  in 
their  labors  to  live,  demonstrates  the  existence  of  this  judgment. 
And,  lastly,  awful  death  !  including  all  that  precedes — sick- 
nesses, diseases,  calamities  ;  and  all  that  follows — separations, 
distresses,  the  lonely  grave  and  its  affecting  corruption. 

When  the  Lord  God  had  ceased  to  speak,  "  Adam  called 
his  wife's  name  Eve,"  the  meaning  of  which  is  "  Life  ;  "  "  be- 
cause she  was  the  mother  of  all  living,"  the  one  ordained  to 
give  life  to  all  of  her  "  kind,"  or  race.  The  naming  of  Eve 
directly  after  the  fall,  and  the  promise  of  salvation,  and  the 
infliction  of  the  temporal  judgments,  cannot  be  without  its 
signiflcancy ;  and,  if  we  have  rightly  discerned  the  mind  of  the 
Spirit,  is  designed  to  affirm,  that  Adam  and  Eve  are  the 
parents  of  all  mankind — a  most  important  fact  which  the 
Word  of  God  establishes  throughout,  both  in  its  natural  and 
spiritual  history  of  the  race. 

The  Word  of  God  gives  the  natm-al  history  of  man  in  his 
creation,  and  subsequent  progress  in  the  world,  in  express 
affirmations,  and  in  recognition  of  varieties  in  the  race,  but 
the  race  remainins:  ever  the  same. 

In  the  beginning,  all  living  creatures  inhabiting  the  air, 
the  land,  or  the  waters,  Vv^ere  created  in  an  endless  variety  of 
distinct  kinds,  or  species,  able  to  propagate  their  own  species ; 
and  by  an  immutable  law,  the  species  remain  distinct,  and 
can  never  mingle  so  as  to  produce  of  two  distinct  species 
a  third,  to  propagate  and  preserve  itself  as  w^ell  as  an  original 
species — a  law  which  is  essential  to  the  order  and  well-being 
of  the  whole  world.  Gen.  i.  20-25.  Man  was  created  "  after 
his  kind"   also,  and  made  lord   of  the  world,  with  a  com- 


74  THE   HISTOKT   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

maud  to  be  fruitful,  to  multiply  and  replenisli  the  earth,  and 
subdue  it ;  and  a  name  was  given  him  to  designate  his  race 
or  kind — namely,  Adam.  "  The  Lord  God  called  his  name 
Adam,  in  the  day  when  they  were  created ;  "  so  all  men  are 
the  "  sons  of  Adam."  Gen.  i.  28  ;  Deut.  xxxii.  8  ;  Ps.  xxxiii. 
13  ;  Prov.  viii.  31  ;  Isa.  lii.  14  ;  Mark  iii.  28  ;  Eph.  iii.  5  ; 
Matt.  viii.  20 ;  ix.  6 ;  Luke  iii.  23-38. 

The  Scriptures  trace  the  progress  of  the  race,  all  descend- 
ing from  the  original  pair,  down  to  the  flood.  At  that  catas- 
trophe, only  eight  of  their  posterity  are  saved ;  to  them  the 
Lord  renews  the  grant  of  the  world,  and  His  original  com- 
mand to  Adam,  that  they  should  be  fruitful,  and  replenish  the 
earth  ;  and  gives  them  the  sign  of  the  rainbow,  that  He  would 
never  more  destroy  their  race  with  a  flood ;  and  by  the  sons 
of  I^oah  "  was  the  whole  eartli  overspread."  jSToah  also,  by 
inspiration,  enters  a  prophecy  concerning  his  sons,  Gen.  ix. 
20-27,  and  gives  an  epitome  of  the  history  of  mankind  de- 
scending from  them ;  which  prophecy,  taken  in  connection 
with  the  10th  Chapter  of  Genesis,  apportions  "  the  whole  earth," 
which  they  overspread,  as  follows : — to  Japheth,  Europe,  and 
the  Isles  of  the  Sea  ;  to  Ham,  portions  of  Asia  and  all  Africa; 
to  Shem,  all  Asia.  This  10th  chapter  sets  down  the  tribes  and 
nations  into  which  they  grew,  and  the  countries  into  which  they 
were  dispersed,  and  which  they  held  as  possessions.  The  time 
when,  and  the  place  where,  and  the  cause  why,  the  descendants 
of  Noah  were  dispersed  one  from  another,  as  related  in  this 
chapter,  are  detailed  in  the  chapter  following — the  11th : 
"  These  are  the  families  of  the  sons  of  Noah  after  their 
generations,  and  in  their  nations,  and  by  these  were  the 
nations  divided  after  the  flood,"  x.  32,  vss.  5,  20,  31 ;  ix.  19. 
After  the  dispersion,  a  portion  of  the  posterity  of  Shem  is 
singled  out  from  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  becomes  the  people 
of  sacred  history  down  to  the  appearance  of  the  promised 
Saviour :  and  for  the  reason  that  they  form  the  visible  Churcli 
on  earth,  out  of  which  the  Lord  of  salvation  should  come. 
The  distinction  is  now  made,  and  onwards,  between  the  people 
of  God  and  the  rest  of  mankind — the  Gentile  or  Heathen  world  ; 
and  while  in  process  of  time  the  people  of  God  become  more 


COMMON   ORIGIN   OF   THE   HUMAN   RACE.  75 

visible  and  fixed  by  organization  and  settlement  in  one  par- 
ticular land,  the  Gentiles  increasing  and  occnpjing  the  rest 
of  the  world ;  yet  is  the  whole  race  one,  descended  from  the 
same  original  pair — all  "  brethren  according  to  the  flesh." 
And  it  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  the  histories  of  nations,  and 
the  traditions  of  their  origins,  fix  the  first  creation  of  the 
human  family  in  the  western  part  of  Asia,  and  so  con*oborate 
the  true  history  of  the  Bible  on  the  subject. 

The  positive  aflinnations  of  Scripture  on  the  point,  are 
such  as  those  already  noted — namely,  the  creation  of  one 
original  pair,  to  whom  the  world  is  given  in  possession,  and 
who  are  commanded  to  fill  it  with  their  children  ;  tlie  Lord 
calling  the  race  by  a  distinct  name ;  Adam's  giving  his  wife 
the  name  of  Eve  ;  the  renewed  grant  of  the  world  after  the 
flood  to  the  only  surviving  descendants  of  Adam,  by  whom 
the  whole  earth  was  overspread ;  and  to  these,  other  affirma- 
tions may  be  added,  as  follows  :  the  Apostle  Paul,  an  Israelite 
of  the  chosen  portion  of  Shem,  reasoning  with  the  Gentiles 
to  turn  them  from  their  idols  unto  the  living  and  true  God, 
afiirms  :  "  God  that  made  the  world  and  all  things  therein, 
hath  made  of  one  blood,"  (of  one  original  stock,  or  pair),  "  all 
nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth,"  (as  in 
the  beginning  He  ordained,  "  Multiply  and  fill  the  earth,) " 
"  and  hath  determined  the  times  before  appointed,  and  the 
bounds  of  their  habitations,"  when  He  scattered  and  divided 
them  into  nations.  Gen.  xi.  ;  Acts  xvii.  24-28.  And  so  reads 
the  Prophet  Malachi :  "  Have  we  not  all  one  father  ?  Hath 
not  one  God  created  ns  ? "  Mai.  ii.  10,  and  are  we  not  "  His 
offspring  ?  "  The  Apostle  Paul  settles  the  unity  of  the  race 
in  Rom.  v.  12-19.  Having  proved,  both  Jew  and  Gentile, 
the  whole  Avorld  guilty  before  God,  he  traces  their  sin  and 
ruin  directly  to  the  first  man,  and  so  makes  the  physical  and 
moral  unity  of  the  race  identical.  To  admit  the  one  and 
deny  the  other,  is  to  put  asunder  what  God  has  joined  to- 
gether. In  1  Cor.  XV.  22,  he  makes  the  physical  and  moral 
unity  of  the  race  identical  again :  Adam  is  of  the  earth, 
earthy  ;  "  in  Adam  all  die ;  "  all  bear  the  image  of  the  earthy, 
vss.   47-49 ;    and    to   look   higher   than  Paul,    our   Saviour 


76  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

when  treating  of  marriage  as  the  union  of  one  man  and  one 
woman,  refers  to  the  marriage  of  Adam  and  Eve  as  the 
original  and  perfect  example  of  all,  and  so  determines  beyond 
cavil  that  the  whole  race  has  descended  from  this  one  pair. 
Mark  x.  G-7 ;  Matt.  xix.  1-9.  And  the  Apostle  follows  his 
Master  in  the  same  reference,  and  leads  us  to  the  same  con- 
clusion.    1  Tim.  ii.  11-15 ;  ii.  Cor.  xi.  3. 

The  Word  of  God  recognizes  varieties  in  the  race  of  man  ; 
yet  the  race  is  one  and  the  same. 

The  Canaanites,  in  comparison  with  the  Hebrews,  were  a 
people  of  greater  stature,  ITumb.  xiii.  32 ;  Josh.  xv.  14 ; 
2  Sam.  xxi.  20 ;  the  Chaldeans  cultivated  the  plains ;  the 
Arabians  wandered  over  the  deserts  and  dwelt  in  tents ;  the 
Egyptians  were  nourished  by  the  overflowings  of  the  Nile,  and 
the  Ethiopian  of  Africa  retained  his  unchangeable  skin.  Jer. 
xiii.  23.  These  nations,  differing  from  each  other  in  features, 
manners,  customs,  language,  and  religion,  and  complexion, 
are  all  descendants  of  the  same  original  pair.  At  what  period, 
and  -  precisely  by  what  agencies,  the  varieties  which  appear  in 
the  physical  conformation  and  color  of  the  human  family 
were  produced.  Scripture  is  silent ;  and  our  philosophy  and 
observation  give  no  light.  They  emerge  from  the  obscurity 
of  remote  ages  ;  the  memory  of  man  xunneth  not  contrary 
thereto  ;  and  reason  and  theorize  as  we  may,  the  best  solu- 
tion is  to  refer  all  to  the  immediate  hand  of  God.  He  v/ho, 
in  His  wise  sovereignty,  has  caused  individuals  to  differ  in 
features,  form,  complexion,  and  mental  endowments,  in  the 
same  family,  in  the  exercise  of  tlie  same  sovereignty,  has 
caused  whole  nations  in  time  to  differ,  and  made  their  differ- 
ences characteristic  and  indelible.  Original  observers  aflirm, 
that  ranging  the  varieties  of  the  race  side  by  side  (in  greater 
or  less  number,  according  to  the  classilication  adopted),  the 
differences  appear  in  a  regular  gradation,  merging  into  each 
other,  like  a  line  commencing  in  light,  and  shading  gradually 
into  darkness  ;  and  that  whenever  the  varietie3  unite,  their 
peculiarities  in  form  and  color  undergo  great  modifications, 
thereby  demonstrating  that  differences  in  form  and  color  do 
not  affect  identity  of  species.     The  irrational  creatures  furnish 


COMMON   ORIGIN   OF    THE   HUMAN   RACE.  Tl 

proof  of  this ;  for,  how  much  greater  are  tlie  varieties  in  races 
of  different  animals  and  birds,  particularly  such  as  have  been 
the  immediate  associates  and  servants  of  man  from  time  im- 
memorial, and  yet  the  races  are  one  ! 

And  all  the  permanent,  physical  characteristics  of  man,  as 
given  in  the  Scriptures,  obtain  through  all  and  in  all  of  the 
varieties  of  the  race ;  such,  for  example,  as  his  erect  posture, 
JS^eh.  ix.  5  ;  viii.  5  ;  Acts  x.  26  ;  xiv.  10  ;  i.  11 ;  Gen.  xviii.  2, 
23  ;  xxiii.  3-7  ;  John  viii.  5  ;  Gen.  xiii.  17,  &c.  ;  his  hairy 
scalp.  Gen.  xlii.  38  ;  Ps.  xl.  12  ;  Ix.  21 ;  E"eh.  xiii.  25  ;  Isa.  iii. 
21 ;  John  xi.  2  ;  Matt.  x.  30  ;  the  features  of  his  face,  Ps.  ex  v. 
4-7  ;  xciv.  9  ;  Gen.  xviii.  13  ;  Eccl.  iii.  4  ;  Gen.  xl.  6  ;  Matt. 
vi.  16  ;  his  power  of  speech.  Gen.  ii.  18-24  ;  iii.  9-13  ;  xi.  1-7 ; 
Acts  ii.  6 ;  Dan.  iii.  4 ;  the  members  of  his  body,  Ps.  cxv. 
4-7  ;  1  Cor.  xii.  14-25  ;  Matt.  xv.  17  ;  1  Cor.  vi.  13  ;  the 
custom  of  women,  Ezek.  xvi.  7  ;  Dent.  xx.  18  ;  Gen.  xxxi. 
35  ;  xviii.  11  ;  Ps.  cxxxix.  13-16  ;  the  period  of  gestation. 
Gen.  xviii.  10,  14 ;  2  Kings  iv.  16  ;  1  Sam.  i.  20  ;  Luke  i.  36  ; 
ii.  6 ;  the  ordinary  length  of  life.  Gen.  v,  1-32  ;  xi.  11-23  ; 
xxiii.  1 ;  xxv.  7  ;  Deut.  xxxiv.  7  ;  Ps.  xc.  10  ;  and,  linally,  the 
capability  and  disposition  to  enter  into  the  marriage  state,  and 
the  production  of  prolific  offspring — a  fact  of  itself  sufficient 
to  demonstrate  the  unity  of  the  race. 

To  this  positive  evidence  in  favor  of  the  unity  of  the  race, 
drawn  from  its  natural  history  in  the  Word  of  God,  some 
negative  may  be  added  from  the  same  source,  as,  for  example, 
no  mention  is  made  of  any  other  creation  of  man  on  the 
earth,  saving  that  of  Adam  and  Eve.  Having  the  veritable 
and  inspired  history  of  the  race,  we  cannot  admit  the  naked 
assertions  to  the  contrary  of  geologists  and  physiologists,  that 
men  have  been  distributed  over  the  earth  by  distinct  creations, 
after  the  manner  of  brute-animals,  and  plants ;  neither  is 
there  any  proof  in  tlie  Bible,  or  out  of  it,  of  any  races  of  men 
that  have  not  sprung  from  Adam  and  Eve.  It  is  said  Cain 
found  a  race  distinct  from  his  own,  when  he  went  into  the 
land  of  ISTod,  for  he  married  there  a  wife.  Unfortunately, 
the  Scripture  does  not  read  so.  Gen.  iv.  16-18  :  "  He  went  out 
into  the  land  of  Nod,  on  the  east  of  Eden :  and  knew  his  wife, 


78  THE   HISTOEY   OF    THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

— and  she  bare  Enoch."  It  appears  he  was  a  married  man, 
and  carried  his  wife  with  him.  Kor  is  it  true  that  the  Bible 
gives  the  history  of  the  Israelites  only  as  a  single,  race  and 
passes  over  all  others.  The  sacred  history,  as  already  shown, 
gives  the  history  of  all  men  on  the  earth  but  as  descendants 
from  one  original  pair.  Heathen  nations  that  have  laid  claim 
to  an  origin  distinct  from  that  of  other  nations,  have  never 
established  their  claims  upon  credible  testimony  of  any  kind ; 
and  for  the  obvious  reason  that  no  such  testimony  was  to 
be  had. 

Turn  to  the  spiritual  history  of  man  in  the  Bible,  and  it 
proves  the  unity  of  the  race  :  for  God  addresses  His  Word  not 
to  any  particular  nation  or  nations,  but  to  all  mankind  with- 
out distinction  ;  all  being  His  accountable  creatures,  and  pos- 
sessing the  same  mental  constitution,  subject  to  one  and  the 
same  condemnation,  and  needing  one  and  the  same  salvation. 
And  again,  among  the  various  nations  noticed  in  Scripture, 
there  is  a  universal  prevalence  of  some  kind  of  religious 
worship,  bearing  a  resemblance  so  strong  to  the  true  worship 
of  God  as  to  induce  the  conviction,  that  the  false  and  corrupt 
was  originally  derived  from  the  true,  and,  of  course,  in  no 
other  manner  than  by  imitation  and  tradition — ^the  true  com- 
municated in  the  lirst  instance  to  Adam  and  Eve,  and  trans- 
mitted by  them  to  succeeding  generations.  An  examination 
also,  of  the  religious  systems  of  nations  not  noticed  in  the 
Scriptures,  deepens  the  conviction  that  they  have  all  filled 
their  vessels,  though  of  different  structure  and  of  unequal 
capacity,  at  the  same  fountain.  How  extensively  diffused  are 
the  traditions  of  the  creation  of  the  original  pair,  of  their 
happy  abode  in  Paradise,  of  their  miserable  fall,  of  the  uni- 
versal deluge,  of  the  ark,  of  the  salvation  therein  of  a  small 
remnant  of  the  race,  and  of  the  repeopling  of  the  world  by 
them  !  How  easily  traced,  in  sacred  times  and  seasons,  and  in 
the  divisions  of  time,  is  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath  !  and 
how  universally  received  and  practiced  the  institution  of 
sacrifices  !  In  short,  the  religious  knowledge  of  the  world  is 
a  reflection  from  the  Word  of  God,  and  runs  upward  and  back- 
ward so  far  in  the  history  of  our  race,  as  to  leave  no  doubt 


COMMON   OKIGIN   OF  THE   HUMAN   RACE.  79 

behind,  that  we  have  all  had  one  common  origin — one  father 
in  Adam,  and  one  mother  in  Eve. 

But  let  the  repetition  of  facts  be  allowed,  and  mark  the 
direct  testimony  in  this  spiritual  liistory.  Was  not  Adam 
constituted  moral  (as  well  as  natural)  head  of  the  race  of  man- 
kind in  the  covenant  of  works  ?  and  were  not  the  conse- 
quences of  his  fall  visited  upon  the  whole  race,  as  their  con- 
dition universally  proves  ?  Did  not  the  promise  of  a  Redeemer 
have  respect  to  the  whole  race  as  fallen  ?  "Was  not  that  Eedeemer 
to  be  of  the  seed  of  the  woman  ?  and  is  not  His  genealogy 
traced  up  to  Adam,  Luke  iii.  38,  "  Which  was  the  son  of  Enos, 
which  was  the  son  of  Seth,  which  was  the  son  of  Adam, 
which  was  the  Son  of  God  ? "  And  as  His  genealogy  is  traced 
backward  and  upward,  we  discover  that  Christ  is  not  the 
Saviour  of  the  Jews  only,  but  of  the  Gentiles  also ;  for  the 
blood  of  the  Gentiles,  as  well  as  Jews,  flows  in  His  veins,  Matt, 
i.  1-5-16  ;  Luke  iii.  23-28  ;  and  is  He  not  sent  and  proclaimed 
as  the  Redeemer  for  the  whole  world  of  mankind — the  one 
ruined  race?  God  gave  Him  in  His  great  love,  to  be  "the 
Saviour  of  the  world,"  John  iii.  16  ;  1  John  iv.  9-10  ;  John 
iv.  42  ;  Acts  iv.  12  ;  and  Christ  Himself  calls  upon  all  the 
ends  of  the  earth  to  look  to  him  and  be  saved,  Luke  ii.  9-11  ; 
xxix.  32  ;  Isa.  xlv.  32,  and  to  feed  upon  Him  as  the  bread 
which  came  down  from  heaven  to  give  life  unto  the  world, 
John  vi.  38  ;  xii.  32  ;  and  He  commanded  His  Gospel  to  be 
preached  to  every  creature,  and  to  be  carried  into  all  nations. 
He  is  to  gather  Llis  elect  from  the  four  corners  of  the  earth. 
And  the  remarkable  fact  stares  us  in  the  face,  that  wherever 
the  Gospel  is  preached,  to  whatever  nations  of  men,  its  recep- 
tion, its  influence,  its  eflects,  are  identically  the  same.  All 
are  dead  in  Adam,  and  all  are  made  alive  in  Christ  Jesus. 
And  the  crowning  acts  of  His  reign  respect  the  whole,  and 
but  the  one  race.  In  the  awful  and  final  day.  He  raises  the 
dead,  He  changes  th«  living,  gathers  before  His  throne  all 
nations  that  ever  existed,  (Acts  xvii.  30-31 ;  Matt.  xxv.  31-16,) 
burns  up  the  world,  and  then  in  judgment  separates  the  right- 
eous from  the  wicked,  and  fixes  them  respectively  in  their 
eternal  states  of  blessedness  and  woe  ! 


80  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHDECH   OF   GOD. 

Thus  the  natural  and  spiritual  history  of  our  race,  in  the 
Word  of  God,  establishes  the  fact  that  "  Eve  is  tlie  mother  of 
all  living."  Human  philosophers  and  science  may  oifer 
objections,  or,  more  correctly  speaking,  suggest  difficulties 
arising  from  our  want  of  experience  and  information  ;  but 
God  has  spoken,  and  God  is  true.  It  is  one  of  the  revelations 
of  God,  and  a  doctrine  essential  to  the  history  of  the  Church, 
which,  in  her  rise  and  progress,  her  doctrines  and  ordinances, 
her  members,  her  labors  and  cares,  her  joys  and  sorrows, 
and  lier  ultimate  triumph,  has  to  do  with  man  springing  from 
one  original  pair,  and  one  only,  which  increasing  into  one  vast 
family,  shall  ultimately  fill  the  earth.  To  deny  the  doctrine, 
is  to  deny  the  Bible,  and  so  overturn  religion  and  the  Church 
along  with  it. 

After  Adam  had  called  his  wife's  name  Eve,  "  unto  Adam 
also  and  to  his  wife  did  the  Lord  God  make  coats  of  skins,  and 
clothed  them,"  Gen.  iii.  21,  who  before  were  but  scantily 
covered  with  their  "  aprons  of  fig-leaves."  This  is  an  imme- 
diate and  singular  act  of  God.  What  does  it  import  ?  The 
skins  were,  of  course,  of  slain  animals — slain  by  whom  ? 
I^Tot  by  Adam,  for  the  grant  of  flesh  as  food  had  not  yet  been 
given.  Gen.  i.  29-30,  but  by  authority  of  the  Lord.  Eor  what 
purpose  ?  For  the  skins  for  clothing?  "What  use  then  was 
made  of  the  bodies  of  the  animals  ?  Were  they  cast  out  to 
offend  the  senses,  and  waste  upon  the  ground  ?  It  is  not 
probable.  He  who  had  all  power  and  all  materials  at  com- 
mand, and  who  cares  for  cattle  and  for  the  life  of  the  least  of 
his  creatures,  might  have  clothed  them  without  pain  to  any. 
Jonah  iv.  11  ;  Ps.  cxlvii.  8-9  ;  Matt.  vi.  26  ;  Job  xxxviii.  41 ; 
Matt.  X.  29.  There  was  a  design  in  the  death  of  these  beasts 
besides  that  of  securing  material  for  clothing — a  design  of 
using  their  bodies  in  sacrifice  to  God  ;  and  it  is  here  in  Eden, 
immediately  after  the  fall  and  the  promise  of  a  Saviour,  that 
sacrifices  are  instituted  for  the  more  perfect  revelation  of  tlie 
way  of  salvation  by  this  Eedeemer  to  the  understanding  and 
faith  of  men.  God,  who  alone  is  the  author  of  salvation, 
through  the  one  great  sacrifice  of  His  well-beloved  Son,  is 
also  the  author,  and  He  alone  could  be  the  author  of  those 


OKIGIN   AND   INSnTUnON    OF   SACKIFICES.  81 

sacrifices  which  prefigured  and  were  prophetic  of  it.  Now, 
did  He  teach  Adam  and  Eve  the  rite,  the  design,  and  meaning 
of  sacrifices  ?  what  beasts  to  slay,  and  when  and  how  to  slay 
and  offer  them  ?  and  what  hmnility,  repentance,  faith,  and 
thanksgiving,  should  accompany  the  rite  ? 

The  reasons  for  fixing  the  origin  of  sacrifices  at  this  time, 
are  obvious.  In  the  first  place,  the  clothing  with  skins  follows 
close  upon  the  promise  of  a  Kedeemer,  and  before  the  expul- 
sion from  Eden.  The  grant  of  flesh  for  food  had  not  yet 
been  given,  and  the  animals  could  have  been  slain  only  by 
authority  of  God.  Their  bodies  must  have  been  disposed  of 
in  sacrifice  ;  and  afterwards  it  is  seen  that  the  skins  of  animals 
slain  in  sacrifice,  were  used  for  the  clothing  of  men.  Levit. 
vii.  8  ;  xiii.  59  ;  xxxi,  20  ;  Heb.  xi.  37.  Such  garments  would 
be  as  garments  of  salvation  to  Adam  and  Eve,  reminding  them 
of  the  great  sacrifice,  in  whose  righteousness  they  must  be 
clothed,  and  not  in  their  own.  In  the  second  place,  sacrifices 
were  offered  in  the  family  of  Adam,  by  Cain  and  Abel  as  a 
customary  rite,  well  understood,  and  received,  and  acknowl- 
edged by  the  Lord  as  agreeable  to  His  will.  They  could  not 
therefore,  have  been  acts  of  will-worship.  Matt.  xv.  9.  The 
Lord  instructed  Adam,  and  he  instructed  his  children.  Gen. 
iv.  1-7.  In  the  third  place,  if  sacrifices  were  not  instituted 
at  this  time,  then  there  is  no  account  in  Scripture  of  their 
origin,  which,  considering  their  character  and  importance,  can 
by  no  means  be  admitted.  In  the  fourth  place,  neither  Adam 
nor  his  sons  could  have  originated  them  any  more  than  they 
could  have  originated  the  plan  of  salvation  by  the  sacrifice  of 
a  Divine  Eedeemer.  But  this  we  know  to  be  a  revelation 
from  God.  John  iii.  10-16  ;  Matt.  xi.  2'7.  He  who  ordained 
the  type,  ordained  also  the  antitype.  The  two  are  perfectly 
adjusted  the  one  to  the  otiier,  and  inseparable  as  the  shadow 
from  the  substance.  The  flowing  blood  of  the  animal  is  the 
visible  revelation — the  sign  of  redemption  by  the  blood  of  the 
great  sacrifice  to  come  ;  and  further,  by  what  process  of  reason- 
ing, upon  what  principle  in  nature,  could  Adam  or  his  sons 
reach  the  conclusion  that  they  must  offer  the  fruits  of  the 
earth,  and  slay  and  burn  animals  before  God  in  worshipping 
6 


82  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE   CHURCH   OF    GOD. 

Him  ?  The  slaiigbteriug  of  animals  in  the  worship  of  God  is 
revolting  to  nature,  except  as  ordained  by  Him,  and  even 
then  is  attended  with  pain.  In  the  fifth  place,  the  consent  of 
Scripture  points  to  Eden  as  the  place  where  sacrifices  were 
divinely  instituted.  Is  not  our  Lord  styled  "  The  Lamb 
slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  "  ?  Kev.  xiii.  8.  If  the 
Lord  taught  Adam  the  slaying  of  the  lamb  immediately  after 
the  promise,  then  is  the  sacrifice  coeval  with  the  promise. 
The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  teaches,  ix.  9-14 ;  x.  1-12,  that 
all  sacrifices  are  tj'pes  and  shadows  of  the  one  great  sacrifice, 
and  consequently  stand  in  immediate  connection  with  the  first 
promise  of  that  sacrifice,  and  owe  their  existence  to  it,  and  to 
nothing  else ;  and  hence,  all  through  the  Scriptures  tlie  Lord 
appears  the  author  of  sacrifices.  He  claims  them  in  His 
worship,  commands  them,  regulates  them,  explains  them,  ac- 
cepts them.  He  did  so  when  Cain  and  Abel  ofiered  ;  He  did 
so  in  Eden ;  for  in  Eden  tlie  line  of  sacrifices  runs  out ;  they 
begin  there.  Josh.  xiii.  14  ;  2  Kings  xvii.  35  ;  Deut.  xv.  21 ; 
Levit.  X.  13  ;  Isa.  i.  11 ;  xli.  23-24  ;  Isa.  Ivi.  Y  ;  Exod.  xxii. 
20 ;  xxx.  15  ;  xx.  24 ;  Levit.  i.  2  ;  iii.  2  ;  ix.  13  ;  1  Sam. 
ii.  29,  &c.,  &c. 

And  then,  what  is  the  meaning  of  a  sacrifice  ?  wherein 
lies  its  efficacy  ?  and  how  many  kinds  of  sacrifices  are  there  ? 

T^vo  Latin  words  form  the  word  sacrifice,  and  sufficiently 
help  us  to  the  meaning  :  the  first  signifying,  in  a  religious 
sense,  something  set  apart  from  its  common  and  ordinary  use 
to  a  sacred  use — something  devoted  to  God  ;  the  second  signi- 
fying to  make,  or  to  ofi'er.  A  sacrifice  is  that  which  is  set 
apart  from  a  common  to  a  holy  use,  ofiered  to  God  (of  course 
with  proper  form  and  ceremony)  in  expiation  of,  or  atonement 
for  transgressions,  and  the  obtaining  of  the  divine  forgiveness 
and  favor.  In  this  sacrifice  for  expiation  (which  is  here  in- 
tended) there  is  a  transfer  or  imputation  of  the  sins  of  the 
transgressor  to  the  victim,  significantly  expressed  by  his  lay- 
ing his  hand  upon  its  head,  with  confession  of  the  same.  The 
wrath  of  God  falls  upon  the  victim  or  substitute,  and  the  real 
transgressor  is  forgiven,  and  goes  free. 

The  efficacy  of  the  sacrifice  in  taking  away  sin,  lies  not  in 


ORIGIN   AND   INSTITDTION   OF   SACRIFICES.  83 

the  sacrifice  itself,  since  it  is  not  possible  that  the  blood  of 
lambs,  or  bulls,  or  goats,  should  take  away  sin  ;  but  the  sacrifice 
is  typical,  and  the  sins  of  the  transgressor  are  truly  exjjiated 
and  forgiven,  and  he  justified,  when  by  faith  he  looks  beyond 
and  through  the  type,  and  lays  hold  upon  the  antit}^e,  the 
promised  Saviour,  the  Lamb  of  God,  whose  blood  alone 
cleanses  from  all  sins.  The  typical  sacrifices  in  the  churcl; 
could  procure  ceremonial  cleanness  and  acceptableness,  but 
not  spiritual.     Levit.  i.  4  ;  xix.  20-22 ;  xvi.  21-22. 

The  sacrifice  must  be  a  lawful  one ;  that  is,  it  must  cor- 
respond in  kind  and  quality,  and  in  the  mode  of  its  being 
offered,  mth  the  laws  of  God  which  regulate  it ;  for  men  are 
not  permitted  to  offer  what,  and  when,  and  where,  and  how 
they  please.  Mai.  i.  6-14 ;  Levit.  xxii.  1-33 ;  Deut.  xv.  21  ; 
Matt.  XV.  8. 

Though  lawful,  its  acceptableness  depends  upon  the  state 
of  the  heart  of  the  sacrificer  and  worshipper,  Isa.  i.  10-20 ; 
Amos  V.  20-27 ;  Luke  xi.  42  ;  Isa.  xxix.  13  ;  Kom.  ii.  28-29  ; 
Ps.  li.  16-19  ;  1.  7-23  ;  and  if  that  be  right,  the  sacrifice  is 
accepted ;  and  under  particular  circumstances  God  will  even 
accept  sacrifices  which  may  not  have  been  prepared  in  all 
respects  agreeably  to  the  regularly  prescribed  rules,  2  Chron. 
xxix.  34 ;  xxx.  15-20,  the  worshippers  not  having  been  able 
to  prepare  either  themselves  or  their  sacrifices,  Num.  ix.  10-13. 

For  a  general  division  : 

Sacrifices  are  of  two  kinds — animal  and  vegetable,  or 
bloody  and  bloodless, — and  when  offered  are  devoted  to  God 
without  reservation  or  recall,  unless  permission  is  given  to 
that  effect,  which  indeed  obtains  in  certain  sacrifices,  which 
are  divided  between  the  Lord,  the  priest,  and  the  worshipper  ; 
yet,  what  is  allowed  to  the  priest  and  the  worshipper,  is  still 
the  Lord's  sacrifice,  and,  as  such,  is  consumed  by  both  with 
suitable  exercises  of  mind. 

All  the  sacrifices  (including  the  offerings)  in  Scripture,  may 
be  thrown  into  three  classes — the  sacrifices  of  expiation,  of 
purification,  and  of  thanksgiving,  having  reference  on  the 
one  hand,  to  the  justice,  holiness,  and  goodness  of  God,  and, 
on  the  other,  to  the  guilt,  pollution,  and  obligations  of  the 


84  THE   HISTORY    OF  THE   CHUECH   OF   GOB. 

sinner.  By  God's  justice  is  the  sinner  condexmiatl  ,  nnder 
guilt,  he  oflers  his  sacrifice  of  expiation.  By  God's  holiness  is 
he  repelled  :  in  his  pollution  he  offers  his  sacriliee  for  purifica- 
tion ;  and  indeed,  in  the  sacrifice  for  expiation,  the  blood  that 
atones,  also  is  sprinkled  upon  him  to  cleanse  and  purify  ;  for 
in  Christ  we  find  both  our  justification  and  sanctification. 
By  God's  goodness  every  blessing,  temporal  and  spiritual,  is 
bestowed  upon  him  :  and  therefore,  he  offers  his  sacrifices  of 
thanksgiving  and  praise. 

The  Lord  gave  Adam  a  knowledge  of  different  kinds  of 
sacrifices — bloody  and  bloodless — bm'ut-offerings  and  sacrifices, 
the  latter  including  peace-offerings  ;  and  consequently,  all 
these  were  instituted  prior  to  the  giving  of  the  Law  of  Moses. 
Gen.  iv.  1-9  ;  comp.  Exod.  x.  25 ;  xviii.  12.  The  knowledge 
of  Adam  of  the  way  of  life,  through  the  promise  and  the  in- 
stitution of  sacrifices  in  direct  connection  with  it,  was  ample 
for  Avorship  and  salvation.  The  exalted  faith  and  piety  of  the 
people  of  God,  from  Adam  to  Moses,  demonstrate  this.  Our 
Lord  and  His  Apostles  held  them  up  as  shining  examples  to 
the  Church  in  all  ages.  Luke  xiii.  28  ;  John  viii.  56  ;  Heb. 
xi.  1-22  ;  James  v.  11. 

The  sacrifices  given  to  Adam  were  all  types  of  the  one 
great  sacrifice  to  come — ordained  memorials  of  the  fall  and 
redemption  of  man — to  be  partaken  of  by  God's  people,  sacra- 
mentally,  even  until  the  substance  should  come  ;  and  then 
the  shadows  would  flee  away,  expiring  by  the  statute  of  their 
own  limitation.  Since  the  fall,  there  is  no  access  to  God  but 
by  sacrifice.  The  words  of  our  Lord  are  true  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end  of  time  :  "  Ko  man  cometh  unto  the  Father 
l)ut  by  me."     John  xiv.  6. 

A  knowledge  of  sacrifices  was  transmitted  by  Adam  and 
his  sons  to  'Noah  and  his  sons,  and  by  them  to  all  their  pos- 
terity, and  hence  they  have  overspread  the  world  ;  but  the 
original  kinds  and  forms,  and  their  true  nature  and  end,  in  the 
lapse  of  centuries,  and  by  the  depravity  of  man,  were  pervert- 
ed and  lost.  The  heathen  nations  mentioned  in  the  Bible  (and 
so  with  all  since)  offered  their  sacrifices  to  idols,  and  set  the 
value  in  the  sacrifices  themselves  ;  and  perhaps,  every  heathen 


ORIGIN    AND   INSTITUTION   OF   SACEIFICE8.  85 

nation,  at  some  time  of  its  existence,  has  propitiated  its  deities 
by  human  sacrifices.  Levit.  xviii.  21 ;  xx.  2,  23  ;  Deut.  xii.  31 ; 
Ps.  cvi.  37 ;  Isa.  Ixvi,  3  ;  Jer.  xxiii.  37.  We  can  teach  them 
the  true  nature  of  sacrifices,  and  the  way  of  life  revealed  in 
them,  in  no  other  manner  than  by  sending  them  the  Gospel. 


86  THE  HISTORY   OF  THE  CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 


CHAPTEK  IX. 


THE    COVENANT    OP    GEAOE. 


The  dark  clouds  which  hung  over  paradise  were  scattered 
by  the  rising  of  "  the  Sun  of  righteousness."  Mai.  iv.  2.  The 
tender  accents  of  mercy  and  the  sweet  light  of  life  fell  upon 
Adam  and  Eve,  and  through  them  upon  all  their  posterity,  in 
the  promise,  and  in  the  sacrifices  which  illustrated  and  con- 
firmed it  to  their  faith. 

Their  connection  with  the  covenant  of  vrorks,  as  "  a  law 
that  could  give  life,"  Gal.  iii.  21,  was  forever  dissolved ;  and 
it  ministered  death,  and  death  only,  to  them,  Gal.  iii.  10-11 ; 
but  it  pleased  a  merciful  God  to  place  them  under  another, 
which  could  give  life — the  covenant  of  grace. 

The  original  promise  of  salvation,  "  It  shall  bruise  thy 
head,"  in  Gen.  iii.  15,  was  the  first  intimation  to  them  of  the 
existence  of  such  a  covenant,  and  the  first  revelation  of  it  in 
time.  It  could,  of  course,  be  made  known  only  so  soon  as 
the  necessity  of  man  called  for  it.  And  here  and  now  it  lifts 
the  veil,  and  permits  us  to  look  far  back  into  the  depths  of  the 
everlasting  counsels  of  God,  and  to  learn  something  of  their 
comprehensiveness  and  vastness,  and  to  behold  the  design  and 
end  of  the  creation  and  existence  of  the  world.  The  design 
is  a  grand  scheme  of  mercy,  and  the  end-r-as  in  all  the  works 
of  God — His  own  glory.  He  purposed  in  Himself  from  eter- 
nity the  exercise  of  His  love  towards  His  creatures  in  a  way 
of  mercy ;  hence  the  scheme  of  human  redemption,  through 
the  stupendous  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God,  which  should  be 


THE   COVENANT   OF   GRACE.  87 

throughout  all  ages  to  the  praise  of  the  glory  of  His  grace, 
Eph.  i.  3-12  ;  Rom.  ix.  22-23,  and  in  a  manner  seen  in  no 
other  work  in  the  universe,  Exod.  xxxiii,  18-23  ;  xxxiv.  5-8  ; 
JPs.  cxxxviii.  2  ;  1  Pet.  i.  12  ;  Eph.  iii.  9-11. 

Such  a  manifestation  could  be  made  only  to  creatures, 
under  just  such  circumstances  as  would  admit  of  it ;  and  the 
covenant  of  grace  shows  the  whole  counsel  of  God  in  the 
matter  ;  which  covenant  calls  for,  and  presupposes  for  its  own 
operation,  the  creation  of  this  material  world,  the  creation  of 
man  in  his  uprightness,  his  perfect  trial  under  the  first  cove- 
nant, his  fall,  and  consequent  condemnation  and  ruin  ;  and 
thus  would  he  be  in  a  condition  to  receive  mercy  from  a 
sovereign  God,  should  He  see  fit  to  exercise  it  towards  him. 

God  communes  with  man  since  his  fall  only  through  the 
covenant  of  grace,  which  is  the  foundation  and  cause  of  all  the 
true  religion  that  ever  has  existed,  or  that  ever  will  exist 
upon  earth.  It  opens  to  the  sinner  a  way  of  access  to  a  throne 
of  grace,  through  an  all-sufiicient  Redeemer,  Eph.  ii.  18  ;  iii. 
12  ;  Heb.  x.  20  ;  reveals  all  the  doctrines  of  the  religion  of 
Christ — the  things  to  be  believed  :  and  all  the  duties — the 
things  to  be  done  ;  and  establishes  the  forms,  ceremonies,  and 
institutions  of  that  religion.  In  its  rich  provisions  the  sinner 
has  his  necessities  anticipated,  wisdom  for  his  ignorance,  right- 
eousness for  his  guilt,  sanctification  for  his  pollution,  salvation 
from  every  enemy  and  every  woe,  and  the  final  fruition  of  God 
in  glory.  1  Cor.  i.  30  ;  John  x.  27-30.  It  is  only  within  this 
covenant  we  have  the  true  knowledge  of  God  ;  and  it  is  only 
in  a  personal  participation  of  its  gracious  provisions,  that  salva- 
tion is  obtained.  "Without  the  pale  of  this  covenant  there 
can  possibly  be  no  salvation ;  for  it  is  here  that  God  has  not 
only  provided  salvation,  but  also  infallibly  designated  those 
who  should  be  the  happy  partakers  of  it ;  for  God,  ''  accord- 
ing to  His  purpose  and  grace,"  chose,  in  Christ  Jesus,  before 
the  foundation  of  the  world,  those  whom  He  would  save  unto 
Himself  out  of  our  ruined  race,  Eph.  i  3-5,  &c. ;  2  Tim.  i.  9  ; 
1  Pet.  i.  2,  promising  them  eternal  life,  Titus  i.  1-3  ;  1  Pet.  i. 
20  ;  Matt,  xxv,  34 ;  John  xvii.  24 ;  Acts  xv.  18,  and  making- 
it  sure  to  them  in  time,  Eph.  i.  5  ;  1  Pet.  i.  2  ;   ii.  9  ;   Rom. 


88  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

viii.  29-30 ;  x.  30-36.  E\ddent  therefore  is  it,  that  the  true 
Church  of  God  is  pointed  out  and  enfolded  in  the  bosom  of 
this  covenant  of  grace.  It  carries  the  Church  of  God  in  its 
mercifal  embrace,  as  the  ark  carried  Noah  and  his  family. 
The  Church  flows  out  of  the  covenant  ^s  its  source,  and  exists 
in  it  and  under  it  as  its  life,  until  its  final  and  glorious  pre- 
sentation before  the  throne  of  God,  "  without  spot  or  wrinkle, 
or  any  such  thing.''  Eph.  v.  27.  Nor  is  there  any  possibility 
of  rightly  conceiving  of  the  true  nature,  constitution,  doctrines, 
and  order  of  the  Church  ;  nor  of  rightly  framing,  and  com- 
prehending after  it  is  framed,  the  history  of  the  Church,  with- 
out a  correct  understanding  of  the  covenant  of  grace.  Church 
history  takes  its  rise  from,  and  has  its  progress  and  its  end  in 
this  covenant. 

That  there  is  such  a  covenant,  in  contradistinction  to  the 
covenant  of  works,  the  Apostle  Paul  teaches  in  Galatians  iii 
1-29,  where  he  argues  that  salvation  is  found  in  "  the  cove- 
vant  (that  is,  of  grace),  confirmed  before  God  in  Christ,"  and 
not  in  the  law  or  covenant  of  works.  The  error  of  his  brethren 
according  to  the  flesh,  lay  in  seeking  to  establish  their  own 
righteousness  under  the  law.  Had  they  used  the  law  lawfully, 
they  would  have  found  tlie  whole  law,  moral  and  ceremonial, 
"  a  schoolmaster  to  bring  them  to  Christ."  Driven  to  self- 
despair  by  the  curses  of  the  moral  law,  or  the  covenant  of 
works,  these  convicted  sinners  would  have  made  the  discovery 
of  mercy  and  forgiveness,  offered  to  them  through  Him  re- 
vealed to  their  faith  in  the  ceremonial  law  ;  or,  in  other  words, 
in  the  covenant  of  grace.  This  exposition  dissolves  the  mys- 
tery which  hangs  over  the  reasoning  of  the  Apostle  in  various 
places  with  the  unbelieving  Israelites.  They  used  the  whole 
law,  moral  and  ceremonial,  for  justification,  on  the  ground 
of  the  merit  of  their  own  obedience  thereto,  as  tliough  they 
were  still  imder  a  covenant  of  works.  The  Apostle  would 
disabuse  of  their  folly,  and  bring  them  under  the  provisions 
of  the  covenant  of  grace.  Gal.  iv.  1-5  ;  21-31  ;  com  p.  Heb. 
vii.  1-28,  &c. ;  chapters  8  and  9,  and  Rom.  1,  2,  3  ;  Luke  xxii. 
19-20  ;  Matt.  xxvi.  28  ;  Heb.  xii.  24. 

The   covenant  of  grace  is  termed  a  new  covenant ;   not 


THE    COVENANT    OF    GRACE.  89 

indeed  on  account  of  its  age,  for  it  is  eternal,  Epli.  i.  1-4,  &c,, 
but  because  it  succeeds,  in  time  and  order  of  operation,  the  first 
or  old  covenant  of  works,  and  is  in  itself  more  precious  and 
sure,  being  founded  upon  and  ministered  by  Jesus  Clirist — the 
Divine  Mediator — and  is  eternal,  and  never  to  be  abrogated, 
and  again  termed  new  in  reference  to  its  administration.  Un- 
der the  Old  Dispensation  it  was  administered  under  types  and 
shadows,  sacrifices  and  offerings  ;  but  under  the  New,  Christ, 
the  substance  of  all  the  shadows  and  sacrifices,  being  come,  it 
is  administered  in  its  reality,  freshness,  and  power,  Heb.  viii. 
1-13  ;  ix.  1,  &c. 

And  because  this  covenant  is  ratified,  sealed,  and  made 
forever  sure  to  all  believers  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  it  is  also 
termed  a  "  Testament,"  or  Will.  The  Apostle  Paul  speaks 
of  it  as  a  Testament,  or  Will,  and  of  Christ  as  the  Testator ; 
and  He  must  needs  die  before  His  heirs  can  come  to  His  in- 
heritance, which  he  purchased  and  bequeathed  to  them  at  and 
by  His  death.  Heb.  ix.  13-28  ;  Luke  xxii.  20  ;  Matt.  xxvi. 
28  ;  Mark  xiv.  24 ;  1  Cor.  xi.  23-26  ;  2  Cor.  iii.  6,  14 ;  Gal. 
iii.  15  ;  Heb.  ix.  15  ;  xii.  24 ;  xiii.  20. 

If  a  definition  of  the  covenant  of  grace  be  required,  the 
following  may  sufiice :  "  It  is  God's  gracious  plan  of  bestow- 
ing grace  and  glory  upon  sinful  men  through  His  Son  Jesus 
Christ."  Or,  we  may  adopt  the  language  of  Scripture  itself: 
It  is  God'S  "  choice  "  and,  "  predestination  "  "  of  whom  He 
will "  of  lost  men,  "  unto  the  adoption  of  children  by  Jesus 
Christ  to  Himself,  according  to  the  good  pleasure  of  His  will, 
to  the  praise  of  the  glory  of  His  grace."     Eph.  i.  4-6. 

We  have  said  it  is  an  eternal  covenant.  In  the  natural 
order  of  existence  it  precedes  the  covenant  of  works ;  but  in 
the  order,  operation,  and  revelation,  it  succeeds  that  covenant, 
made  in  eternity,  with  One  who  is  eternal,  and  for  His  people 
who  were  to  be  saved  by  Him  in  time.  Prov.  viii.  22-31  ; 
John  i.  1-5  ;  Micah.  v.  2  ;  Ps.  cii.  25-27 ;  Heb.  i.  10-12  and 
vss.  8-9  ;  Isa.  ix.  6-7 ;  John  xvii.  5,  24 ;  1  Pet.  i.  19-20  ; 
Titus  i.  1-3  ;  2  Tim.  i.  9-10 ;  Eom.  viii.  29-30  ;  xi.  33-36  ; 
Eph.  i.  1-6  ;  iii.  8-11  ;  Matt.  xxv.  34;  Rev.  xiii.  8  ;  Gen.  iii, 
15  ;  1  Pet.  i.  1-12. 


90  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

The  author  of  this  covenant  is  God,  for  none  other  could  be, 
having  absolute  power  and  right  to  create,  to  govern,  and  to 
dispose  of  all  things  according  to  the  counsel  of  His  own  will ; 
and  being  infinitely  wise,  just,  and  powerful.  He  could  never 
originate  anything  but  that  which  is  free  from  error,  unright- 
eousness, and  disappointment.  Jer.  x.  10-11 ;  Isa.  xliv.  6-8  ; 
Eom.  xi.  33-3G  ;  1  Chron.  xxix.  11  ;  Matt.  vi.  13  ;  Ps.  Ixxxix. 
14  ;  xcvii.  2  ;  Gen.  xviii.  25  ;  Dan.  iv.  35  ;  Isa.  xlvi.  10  ;  Matt. 
xi.  25-26  ;  Isa.  xxxvii.  16  ;  xl.  12-31  ;  Exod.  xv.  11  ;  Pro  v. 
xvi.  4  ;  Rev.  iv.  ]  1. 

The  covenant  is  purely  an  act  of  sovereignty  from  begin- 
ning to  end.  The  Lord  was  self-moved  thereto  :  for  no  reasons 
can  exist  for  any  of  the  works  of  God  witliout  Himself.  He 
was  not  moved  to  it  by  any  merit  in  man  :  for,  strictly  speak- 
ing. He  had  none  before  and  certainly  none  after  the  fall :  nor 
by  the  misery  of  man  ;  for,  if  the  misery  of  creatures  moved 
Him,  why,  then,  did  He  pass  by  fallen  angels  ?  and  why  in 
the  covenant  itself  did  He  not  include  every  child  of  Adam  ? 
When  God  formed  and  entered  into  this  covenant  with  Christ, 
men  had  no  existence ;  and  it  is  therefore  all  an  act  of  sove- 
reignty, Heb.  ii.  16  ;  Rom.  ix,  18,  but  an  act  of  sovereignty 
springing  from  His  love.  He  loves  all  His  intelligent  creatures 
with  a  love  of  benevolence  as  their  Creator,  manifested  in  His 
kind  care  of  and  bountiful  provision  for  them  ;  but  in  the 
covenant,  the  exceeding  greatness  of  His  love  is  manifested 
towards  His  chosen  ones  in  a  way  of  mercy,  and  extended  to 
them  at  the  infinite  sacrifice  of  His  only  begotten  and  well- 
beloved  Son.  John  iii.  16  ;  1  John  iv.  8-10  ;  Rom.  v.  6-8  ; 
Eph.  iii.  17-21. 

And  all  the  persons  in  the  Godhead  are  engaged  unitedly 
in  this  covenant. 

"With  reverence  and  humility,  remembering  that  we  are 
but  dust  and  ashes,  may  we  speak.  "  Let  us  make  man  "  was 
the  language  of  the  Holy  Trinity.  ''  Let  us  save  man  "  is  also 
the  language  of  the  Holy  Trinity.  The  covenant  of  grace 
issues  from  the  eternal  counsels  of  the  Godhead  ;  all  the  per- 
sons are  equally  interested  in,  and  are  equally  the  authors 
of  it ;   but  in  the   revelation   and   administration   of  it,    the 


THE    COVENANT    OF    GRACE.  91 

Father,  as  tlie  representative  of  the  holiness,  justice,  and  mercy 
of  the  Godhead,  is  tlie  author,  the  Son  the  executor,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  the  witness  and  applier.  Gen.  i.  26  ;  iii.  15  ; 
vi.  3  ;  Exod.  xxili.  20-23  ;  Numb.  vi.  23-2T ;  Isa.  Ixiii.  8-10  ; 
Acta  vii.  51  ;  Eph.  ii.  18  ;  Matt.  iii.  16-17  ;  xxviii.  18-20  ; 
2  Cor.  xiii.  14. 

And  the  final  end  of  the  covenant  is  the  glory  of  the  ever- 
blessed  God.  Eph.  i.  1-23  ;  Eom.  viii.  28-39  ;  xi.  32-36  ; 
1  Cor.  XV.  27-28  ;  Eph.  iii.  10-21  ;  Phil.  ii.  9-11  ;  Eev.  v. 
9-14. 

The  parties  to  the  covenant  are  properly  two :  God  the 
Father,  the  representative  of  the  offended  Godhead,  and  God 
the  Son,  the  representative  of  offending  man. 

The  parties  to  the  first  covenant — the  covenant  of  works — 
were  two  only  :  God,  and  the  first  Adam,  the  representative 
of  Jiis  natural  seed.     1  Cor.  xv.  21-22,  45-49  ;  Rom.  v.  12-19. 

The  parties  to  the  second  covenant,  like  those  of  the  .first, 
are  properly  two  :  God  tlie  Father  and  Christ,  the  second 
Adam,  the  head  and  representative  of  His  spiritual  seed,  even 
those  given  to  Him  by  the  Father  to  be  saved.  This  second 
Adam  "  is  the  Lord  from  heaven."  1  Cor.  xv.  45-49,  God 
the  Father  graciously  appoints  this  Surety  and  Mediator,  and 
enters  into  covenant  with  Him  as  the  head  and  representative 
of  the  elect :  they  are  included  in  Him,  and  God  holds  Him 
responsible  for  them.  He  assumes  everything  and  does  every- 
thing for  them ;  and  as  he  stands,  so  shall  they  stand.  Gen. 
iii.  15  ;  Ps.  ii.  40,  45,  110  ;  Acts  iv.  25-26  ;  lieb.  x.  7  ;  Acts 
ii.  34-36  ;  Isa.  vi.  6-7  ;  John  vi.  37-40  ;  x.  1-30  ;  xv.  1-6  ; 
xvii.  1-26  ;  Eom.  v.  12-19  ;  viii,  29-39  ;  Eph,  i,  22-23  ;  Gal. 
ii.  19-20  ;  Heb.  ix,,  &c. 

In  respect  to  the  nature  of  this  covenant,  it  is  freely  enter- 
ed into  by  each  of  the  contracting  partie.-^.  Reverently  may 
we  represent  it  thus  :  "  As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord,  I  have  no 
pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked  :  whom  shall  I  send  ?  who 
will  become  a  daysman  betwixt  us  ? "  Then  answers  the 
eternal  Son :  "  Lo,  I  come  to  do  thy  wiU,  O  God."  God  the 
Father  makes  knowTi  His  will,  states  the  conditions  to  be  com- 
plied with  on  the  part  of  God  the  Son,  recounts  the  promises, 


92  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

but  attaches  no  penalties.  The  conditions  were,  briefly,  that 
our  Lord  should  become  the  Surety  and  Redeemer  of  the  elect, 
by  assuming  their  nature,  and  taking  their  place  under  the 
law  which  they  had  broken,  and  whose  penalty  they  had  in- 
curred ;  that,  as  their  true  substitute,  their  iniquities  should 
be  laid  upon  Him  and  charged  to  His  account  ;  that  He 
should  obey  the  precepts  and  suflfer  the  penalty  of  the  law  at 
the  hands  of  divine  justice,  in  their  stead,  and  on  their  ac- 
count, and  for  their  benefit ;  that  He  should  in  reality  make 
Himself  a  propitiatory  and  atoning  sacrifice  for  their  sins, 
dying  the  just  for  the  unjust ;  and  so,  by  the  infinite  merit  of 
His  obedience  and  sufierings,  accepted  of  the  Father,  he 
might  work  out  and  secure  to  all  the  elect  a  complete  right- 
eousness for  justification  unto  life  eternal.  Isa.  liii.  1-12  ; 
Matt.  xxvi.  26-29  ;  John  i.  1-18,  29  ;  iii.  14-18,  36  ;  x.  1-30  ; 
xvii.  1-26  ;  Galatians  i.  2  and  "3  ;  Heb.  1  to  10,  and  Eph.  iv. 
32  ;  V.  1-2.  Consequently,  the  righteousness  for  justification, 
which  was  the  end  of  the  law  under  the  first  covenant,  and 
which  man  by  transgression  forever  lost,  Christ  restores : 
"  For  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  for  righteousness  to  every 
one  that  believeth."  Eom.  x.  1-13 ;  Gal.  iii.  1-25  ;  Col.  ii. 
10-17,  &c.  And  our  Lord  not  only  brings  in  a  righteousness 
for  justification  of  His  purchased  people,  but  also  merits  and 
Recures  to  them  the  indispensable  gift  and  agency  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  all  other  necessary  means  for  their  sanctification 
and  meetness  for  heaven.  We  are  complete  in  Him  :  "  for  He 
is  made  of  God  "  our  "  wisdom,  righteousness,  sanctification, 
and  redemption." 

The  Father  promises  in  the  covenant  to  be  a  God  to  the 
Son  in  the  execution  of  His  work  :  "  I  will  be  to  Him  a  Father, 
and  He  shall  be  to  me  a  Son,"  Heb.  i.  5  ;  Ps.  Ixxxix.  19-37 ; 
Ixxv.  1-7 ;  Ixxii.  1-2  ;  Matt.  iii.  17  ;  Eph.  i.  3-17 ;  John,  17th 
chapter,  and  xx.  17  ;  2  Cor.  i.  3 ;  to  exalt  Him  to  the  media- 
torial throne  from  the  beginning,  to  commit  all  things  in 
heaven  and  in  earth  into  His  hands,  and  to  make  Him  the 
great  Revealer  of  God  to  the  universe  in  His  works  of  crea- 
tion, providence,  and  grace,  Gen.  iii.  8  ;  xv.  1  ;  xviii.  1  ; 
XXXV.  1  :   Exod.  iii.  1-2  ;   xxiii.  20-21  ;   Isa.  Ixiii.  9  ;   Prov. 


THE    COVENANT    OF    GRACE.  93 

viii.  22-36  ;  John  i.  1-5  ;  Ps.  xlv.  6-7  ;  Heb.  i.  8  ;  Ps.  cii. 
25-27  ;  Heb.  i.  10-12  ;  Isa.  ix.  6-7  ;  Col.  i.  15-20  ;  Heb.  i. 
1-3  ;  John  i.  18  ;  iii.  13  ;  viii.  12  ;  xiv.  9  ;  xvii.  6,  8,  26 ; 
Matt.  xi.  27-30  ;  1  John  iv.  7-10  ;  v.  20  ;  John  iii.  34  ;  Ps. 
ex.  and  ii. ;  Acts  ii.  33  ;  v.  31 ;  Phih  ii.  5-11 ;  Heb.  x.  12-14  ; 
Rev.  iv.  21 ;  to  furnish,  preserve,  sustain,  and  finally  accept 
Him  in  the  works  which  He  had  giv^en  Him  to  do,  whereof 
He  would  give  assurance  unto  all  in  that  He  would  raise  Him 
from  the  dead,  Ps.  xvi.  1-5  ;  xlii.  1-7  ;  Isa.  xlix.  1-8,  &c. ; 
Ps.  ii.,  viii.,  xvi.,  xxii.,  xlv.,  Ixxii.,  ex.  ;  Col.  i.  19  ;  ii.  3,  9  ; 
Matt,  xxviii.  18  ;  Lul^e  ii.  49  ;  John  viii.  29  ;  John  ix.  4  ; 
xiv.  10-11  ;  xvi.  32  ;  xvii.  1-5  ;  xii.  27-30  ;  Luke  xxiii.  46  ; 
Acts  ii.  22-36  ;  1  Cor.  vi.  14  ;  Eph.  i.  19-23  ;  1  Thess.  i.  10  ; 
Heb.  xiii.  20  ;  Isa.  1.  1-9  ;  Luke  xxii.  41-43  ;  Matt.  xxvi.  53  ; 
Acts  xvii.  31 ;  Matt,  xxviii.  1-6  ;  x.  12-13  ;  1  Cor.  xv. ;  1  Pet. 
i.  21 ;  Eph.  v.  2. 

The  Father  promises  the  Son  that  He  should  reign  until 
He  should  effectually  subdue  all  the  enemies  of  God  under 
His  feet,  and  confine  them  under  punishment  in  their  own 
proper  place,  to  disturb  His  kingdom  no  more,  Heb.  x. 
12-14  ;  Ps.  ex. ;  1  Cor.  xv.  25-26  ;  Matt.  xxv.  31-46 ;  2  Thess. 
i.  7-10;  Jude,  vss.  14-15  ;  Eev.  xx.  11-15;  that  He  should 
reap  the  joy  set  before  Him,  the  blessed  fruit  of  the  travail 
of  His  soul,  even  the  redemption  of  a  multitude  of  souls 
whom  no  man  can  number,  and  present  them  without  spot 
or  blemish  before  His  Father's  throne  in  heaven,  to  go  no 
more  out  forever.  Isa.  liii.  10-12  ;  Ps.  xlv.  ;  Eev.  v.  8-14  ; 
Heb.  xii.  22-24  ;  Eph.  v.  25-27  ;  Rev.  xxi.  and  xxii.  And 
when  His  work  should  be  accomplished,  then  should  He  de- 
liv'er  up  His  mediatorial  kingdom — the  dominion  with  which 
He  was  invested — to  the  Father  who  appointed  Him  ;  and 
God,  the  Triune  God,  reign  supreme,  and  be  all  in  all  to  their 
eternal  praise  and  glory.  1  Cor.  xv.  24-28  ;  Rev.  xxi.  22-23  ; 
xxii.  1-5. 

There  are  properly  no  threatenings,  no  penalties,  attached 
to  this  covenant  of  grace,  since  He  who  undertakes  to  fuliil 
its  conditions,  is  in  His  divine  nature  coequal  with  the  Father, 
in  -whom   the   Father  is   well  pleased,  who  possesses  every 


94  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   CIIUECH    OF   GOD. 

qualification  and  perfection  in  an  infinite  deojree,  and  with 
whom  faihire  is  impossible. 

The  other  party  who  freely  engages  in  the  covenant,  under- 
takes to  fulfil  the  conditions,  and  embraces  the  promises,  is  the 
second  person  in  the  adorable  Trinity — the  eternal  Son  of 
God ;  and,  when  we  consider  Him  as  the  Redeemer  of  God's 
elect,  "  His  name  shall  he  called  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  The 
mighty  God,  The  everlasting  Father,  The  Prince  of  Peace,'' 
and  yet  "  a  child  horn  unto  us  and  a  son  given."  Isa.  ix.  6. 
Divinity  and  humanity  constitute  His  person. 

In  His  original  nature  He  is  God.  His  name — Son  of  God 
— imports  divinity :  "  the  same  in  substance,  equal  in  power 
and  glory,"  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  is  called 
God  in  the  highest  sense :  God  over  all ;  the  true,  the  great 
God,  Jehovah ;  Jehovah  of  Hosts.  Isa.  vi.  1-3  ;  John  xii.  41 ; 
Heb.  i.  10-12  ;  Ps.  cii.  22-2Y- ;  Heh.  i.  8-9  ;  Ps.  xlv.  6-7 ; 
Isa.  ix.  6-7  ;  xlv.  21-25  ;  Jer.  xxiii.  5-6  ;  John  i.  1-5  ;  x. 
30-39  ;  XX.  28  ;  Rom.  ix.  5  ;  1  Tim.  iii.  16  ;  Titus  ii.  13  ; 
2  Pet.  i.  1 ;  1  John  v.  20  ;  Eev.  i.  8. 

All  the  attributes  of  God  are  ascribed  to  Him  :  He  is  ever- 
lasting and  unchangeahle,  Heb.  i.  12  ;  Ps.  cii.  27  ;   Isa.  ix.  6 
Micah.  v.  2  ;  Rev.  i.  8  ;   xxii.  13  ;   Isa.  xliv.  6  ;   John  i.  1-2 
viii,  57-58  ;  Col.  i.  15-17  :  omniscient  and  omnipresent.  Matt 
xviii.  20  ;  xxviii.  18-20  ;  John  xxi.  17  ;   xvi.  30  ;  Acts  i.  24 
Jer.  xvii.  9-10  ;   John  i.  18  ;   ii.  24-25  ;  vi.  64  ;  Matt.  ix.  4 
1  Sam.  xvi.  7  ;  1  Cor.  iv.  ^5  ;  Matt.  xi.  27 ;  Col.  ii.  3-9  ;  the 
Creator  and  Preserver  of  the  universe.  Col.  i.  15-17 ;  Heb.  i. 
3,  10-12  ;   Gen.  i.  1-3  ;   Ps.  xxxiii.  6-9  ;   Acts  xiv.  15  ;   PhiL 
iii.  21  ;  Jer.  x.  10-16  ;  Ps.  xcv.  1-7  ;  xcvi.  5  ;  Ps.  cii.  25-27 ; 
the  Forgiver  of  sins.  Matt.  ix.  1-6  ;  Mark  ii.  5-7 ;  Exod.  xxiii. 
20-21 ;  Col.  iii.  13  ;  Luke  vii.  47-50  ;  the  final  Judge  of  all, 
Jude  vss.  14-15  ;  2  Cor.  v.  10  ;  Rom.  xiv.  10-12  ;  John  v.  22  ; 
Actsx.  42  ;  xvii.  31  ;  Matt.  xxv.  31-46  ;  Rev.  xx.  11-15  ;  the 
true  object  of  divine  worship,  John  v.  23  ;  Acts  i.  24  ;    vii. 
59-00  ;  ix.  13, 14,  21 ;  Rom.  i.  7  ;  x.  9-14 ;  1  Cor.  i.  2  ;  2  Cor. 
xii.  8-9  ;  1  Thess.  iii.  11,  12  ;  2  Thess.  ii.  16-17 ;  Rev.  i.  5-6 ; 
V.  9-14  ;  Phil.  ii.  9-11  :  Heb.  i.  6  :  John  v.  23  :  1  John  v. 


THE   COVENANT   OF    GRACE.  95 

20-21  ;  and  united  in  supreme  divinity  with  the  Father  and 
the  Holy  Spirit,  Matt,  xxviii.  19-20  ;  2  Cor.  xiii.  14. 

As  the  covenant  of  grace  was  from  eternity,  our  Lord  held 
the  office  of  Redeemer  before  the  creation  ;  for,  in  view  of  His 
fulfilling  this  office,  and  as  a  part  of  its  work,  the  creation  of 
other  worlds,  as  well  as  of  our  own  and  all  that  it  contains, 
was  assigned  to  Him  by  the  Father.  John  i.  1-4  ;  Col.  i.  15-20. 
He,  therefore,  existed  before  He  appeared  in  the  world ;  yea. 
He  sat  upon  the  mediatorial  throne  and  executed  His  office 
from  the  bes-innlno'  of  time. 

Divinity  is  essential  to  His  office  as  Redeemer.  His  di"\an- 
ity  lays  the  foundation,  and  qualifies  Him  for  the  assumption 
and  discharge  of  the  duties  of  His  office.  As  divine,  He  owes 
no  obedience  to  that  violated  law  under  whicli  sinners  are 
condemned ;  on  Him,  personally,  as  the  Son  of  God,  that  law 
has  no  claims  whatever.  As  divine,  He  has  a  perfect  right  to 
undertake  the  office  and  work  of  Redeemer,  if  He  shall  so 
choose  to  do.  As  divine.  He  possesses  every  attribute  of  wis- 
dom, power,  holiness,  justice,  goodness,  and  truth,  in  an  infinite 
degree,  to  enable  Him,  without  the  shadow  of  failure,  to  meet 
every  demand,  and  perform  every  duty  required  of  Him  on 
behalf  of  God  and  man  ;  and,  finally.  His  div^inity  adds  an 
infinite  dignity  and  value  to  His  person,  and  to  all  His  obe- 
dience, sufferings,  and  death. 

He  is  able  to  stand  before  the  Eternal  and  Holy  God,  and 
meet  and  bear  all  His  just  demands  against  His  ofi'ending 
creatures,  and,  by  a  righteousness  of  His  own  imputed  to  them, 
reconcile  God  to  them.  He  is  able  also  to  stand  before 
men  as  "  their  Lord  and  their  God,"  to  deliver  them  from 
their  enmity  by  His  Holy  Spirit,  to  raise  them  up  from  spirit- 
ual corruption  and  misery,  and  reconcile  them  to  God.  Help 
is  therefore  laid  upon  one  not  only  willing,  but  able  to  save. 

In  His  assumed  nature  He  is  man.  He  came  not  to  assist 
angels,  but  men  ;  therefore,  was  He  "  the  seed  of  the  woman," 
"  partaker  of  flesh  and  blood,"  and  one  "  made  under  the 
law ;  "  otherwise,  He  could  never  have  obeyed,  sufiered,  and 
died,  nor  been  our  example,  and  faithful,  sympathizing  High- 
Priest  :  "  wherefore  in  all  thinsrs  it  behoved  Him  to  be  made 


96  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

like  unto  His  brethren,  that  He  might  be  a  merciful  and 
faithful  High-Priest  in  things  pertaining  to  God,  to  make  re- 
conciliation for  the  sins  of  the  people."  Heb.  ii.  5-18.  Two 
distinct  natures,  human  and  divane,  are,  in  a  manner  incom- 
prehensible to  us,  united,  and  form  one  person  forever ! — "  Im- 
manuel,  God  with  us."  1  Tim,  iii.  16.  Everything  belonging 
to  God  is  ascribed  unto  and  belongs  to  Him ;  and  everything 
belonging  to  man  is  ascribed  unto  and  belongs  to  Him,  sin 
excepted  ! 

The  great  Eedeemer,  called  and  chosen  of  God,  has  fulfilled 
and  is  now  fulfilling,  and  will  finally  complete  all  the  con- 
ditions required  of  Him  in  the  covenant.  He  bestows  from 
eternity,  as  though  His  work  were  done,  all  the  promises  and 
rewards  in  behalf  of  His  people  .  Seated  upon  the  mediatorial 
throne  Pie  has  finished  the  work  of  creation,  and  rules  the 
universe.  He  entered  upon  the  work  given  Him  from  eternity 
by  His  Heavenly  Father ;  and,  in  the  appointed  time.  He  be- 
came incarnate,  suffered,  died,  and  was  buried.  God  accept- 
ed His  sacrifice  as  all-sufficient  for  the  sins  of  His  people,  and 
of  eternal  efficacy  in  His  sight ;  and,  therefore,  a  prisoner  of 
justice  He  could  never  be  held.  The  bars  of  death  were  burst 
asunder,  God  raised  Him  triumphant  from  the  dead,  and 
set  Him  in  glory  at  His  own  right,  hand,  "where  he  was 
before,"  John  vi.  62,  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour  !  He  has  finish- 
ed the  revelation  of  the  will  of  God  to  men  in  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures and  poured  out  the  Spirit.  The  key  of  the  government 
of  the  Church  of  God  is  now  on  His  shoulder ;  and  of  the 
increase  of  His  government  and  peace  tliere  shall  be  no  end. 
His  enemies  shall  be  made  his  footstool ;  His  people  shall 
be  brought  home  to  glory,  and  He  shall  see  of  the  travail  of 
His  soul  and  be  satisfied  forever. 

A  few  additional  remarks  of  an  explanatory  nature  will 
close  the  chapter :  and,  first,  in  relation  to  the  elect  in  the 
covenant.  "We  have  said  that  the  parties  to  the  covenant  of 
grace  are  properly  two — the  Father  and  the  Son.  The  Father 
enters  into  covenant  with  the  Son,  as  the  head  and  repre- 
sentative of  the  elect :  they  are  included  in  Him  and  are  one 
with   Him.      Adam,  as   the  head   and   representative  of  hia 


THE    COVENANT    OF    GRACE.  97 

race,  under  tlie  first  covenant,  did  every  tiling ;  his  posterity- 
did  nothing  ;  indeed  they  were  then  not  in  being.  So  Christ, 
the  second  Adam,  the  head  and  representative  of  all  His 
spiritual  seed,  under  the  covenant  of  grace  does  everything, 
and  they  do  nothing.  When  Christ  became  a  party  to  this 
covenant,  those  whom  He  represented  and  acted  for  had  no 
existence ;  and  for  Him  to  undertake  and  be  accepted  of  the 
Father  was  one  and  the  same  thing  ;  so  that  there  was  a  vir- 
tual completion  of  the  whole  work  from  the  beginning. 

And  so  the  parallel  holds  :  As  in  the  first  covenant,  Adam's 
posterity  were  covenanted  with  in  him,  and  became  par- 
takers of  all  the  consequences  of  his  acts  under  that  covenant, 
80  in  the  second  covenant,  the  elect — all  Christ's  spiritual 
seed — are  covenanted  with  in  Him,  and  become  partakers  of 
the  consequences  of  His  acts.  Hence  the  covenant  made  with 
Christ,  the  representative  of  the  elect,  partakes  of  the  nature 
of  a  testament  to  them,  as  the  Apostle  writes.  All  the  con- 
ditions of  the  covenant  are  fulfilled  by  Christ ;  and  He  merits 
and  makes  over  to  them,  by  His  obedience  and  death,  (which 
have  both  a  retrospective  and  prospective  efficacy,)  everlasting 
righteousness.  They  are  elected  from  eternity  in  Him  unto  life 
eternal,  and  His  death  secures  that  life  to  them,  so  that  their 
salvation  is  certain,  and  can  never  fail ;  which  proves  that  there 
are  no  conditions  of  the  nature  of  merit  unto  salvation,  under 
the  covenant,  which  are  required  of  the  elect.  All  such  condi- 
tions are  performed  for  them  by  Christ,  their  head  and  surety. 
But,  in  order  that  they  may  become  interested  in  and  j^artake 
of  the  benefits  of  the  covenant,  there  are  certain  requirements 
or  qualifications  which  must  be  and  abound  in  them,  even 
repentance  towards  God,  and  faith  in  onr  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
These,  however,  are  not  of  the  nature  of  personal  merit  unto 
justification,  but  are  the  consequences  of  their  election  ;  they 
are  included  in  and  are  parts  of  the  decree  of  that  election ; 
they  are  the  gifts  of  God,  and  will  surely  be  wrought  in  tliem 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  freely  bestowed  upon  them  to  that 
end,  through  the  merits  and  intercession  of  Christ, — which 
brings  us  to  say,  that  all  the  promises  of  God  made  to  Christ 
are  made  to  the  elect  in  Him,  are  to  them  "  sure  mercies ; " 
7 


98  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD, 

and,  being  made  from  eternity,  tliey  are  fulfilled  to  tliem  in 
time  and  in  due  order,  thus  :  the  Lord  beholds  His  chosen 
people  with  infinite  complacency  from  eternity.  He  calls 
them  into  being  on  the  earth  ;  protects,  preserves,  and  leads 
them  by  a  way  they  know  not ;  brings  them  into  connection 
with  the  covenant  of  grace  in  its  administration,  through 
the  ministry,  the  word,  and  the  ordinances  of  the  house  of 
God,  and  in  His  own  time  and  manner  visits  them  with  His 
Holy  Spirit  ;  efiectually  calls  and  justifies  them  in  Christ : 
adopts  them  into  His  family,  and  in  faithfulness  carries  on 
their  sanctification,  never  leaving  nor  forsaking  them  until 
death,  after  which  they  are  received  into  Heaven  and  are 
glorified  with  Christ  forever. 

This  is  the  proper  place  to  notice  and  briefly  explain  some 
of  the  expressions  frequently  made  use  of  respecting  the  cove- 
nants of  works  and  of  grace,  according  to  the  connection  in 
which  they  are  spoken  or  written  of.  For  example :  "  The 
Old  and  New  Testaments,"  "  The  Old  and  New  Dispensa- 
tions," "  The  Legal  Dispensation  and  the  Gospel  Dispensa- 
tion," "  The  Jewish  Church  and  tlie  Christian  Church,"  "  The 
Law  and  the  Gospel,"  "  Type  and  Antitype,"  "  Shadow  and 
Substance,"  "  The  Ahrahamic  Covenant,"  and  the  Mosaic  or 
Sinaitic  Covenant.  And  we  read  in'  the  Word  of  God  of 
"  The  Two  Covenants  " — one  gendering  to  bondage,  the 
other  bestowing  liberty  ;  one  waxing  old,  unprofitable,  and 
ready  to  vanish  away  :  and  the  other,  new,  stable,  and 
abiding  forever.  The  inquirer  only  needs  the  real  clue  put 
into  his  possession  to  be  guided  safely  through  the  Scriptures  ; 
that  is,  when  he  discovers  the  covenant  of  grace  running 
through  the  whole  Word  of  God,  from  beginning  to  end,  and 
the  Church  flowing  out  of  and  ever  being  in  it,  all  these 
apparently  contradictory  expressions  are  reconciled,  and  be- 
come harmonious  throughout. 

What  are  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  but  one  and  the 
same  harmonious  revelation  of  God,  of  one  and  the  same  plan 
of  salvation  in  one  and  the  same  covenant  of  grace — the  New 
looking  back  and  building  itself  up  upon  and  out  of  the  Old, 
and  the  Old  looking  forward  to  and  finding  its  completion  in 


THE   COVENANT    OF    GRACE.  99 

the  New  ?  What  are  the  Old  or  Legal,  and  the  New  or  Gospel 
Dispensations  but  different  modes  answering  to  different  ages, 
before  and  after  Christ,  of  revealing  the  same  covenant,  and 
of  dispensing  the  salvation  which  it  provides  ?  What  are  the 
Jewish  and  the  Christian  Churches  but  the  one  and  the  same 
Church  of  God  found  in  that  same  covenant,  although  ordered 
somewliat  differently  before  and  after  Christ  ?  What  are  the 
law  and  the  gospel  ?  The  one  is  not  opposed  to  the  other : 
the  law  (both  the  moral  and  the  ceremonial)  was  a  scliool- 
master  to  bring  us  to  Christ  ;  the  gospel  does  the  same.  The 
law  preaches "  Clirist  under  types  and  shadows  yet  to  come ; 
the  gospel  preaches  Christ  already  come,  all  the  types  and 
shadows  findino;  their  fulfilment  in  Him.  What  is  the  Abra- 
hamic  covenant  but  the  reiteration  and  continuation  of  the 
covenant  of  grace  first  made  with  Adam,  and  to  which  other 
matter  was  then  added,  giving  tlie  covenant  more  visibility 
and  fixedness  in  the  world  ?  What  is  the  Mosaic  covenant ''. 
Indeed  nothing  more  than  a  gathering  up  of  all  God's  pre- 
vious revelations  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  His  arrange- 
ments concerning  it,  with  many  things  added  for  its  still 
clearer  manifestation. 

The  two  covenants  referred  to  by  the  Apostle  in  Gal.  iv. 
24-31,  are  this  Mosaic  covenant,  republishing  both  the  original 
covenant  of  works  in  the  moral  law,  and  the  original  covenant 
of  grace  in  the  promises  and  ceremonial  law,  which  revealed  a 
Kedeemer  to  come.  Why  did  this  covenant  gender  to  bondage  \ 
Because  it  was  perverted  by  the  Jews,  who  sought  justifica- 
tion by  works  under  it,  and  blindly  and  obstinately  rejected 
justification  by  faith  therein  revealed.  The  second,  the  real 
covenant,  brought  out  the  substance  of  which  the  first  was 
the  type  and  shadow ;  the  one,  the  shadow,  according  to  its 
nature  and  design,  necessarily, waxes  old,  and  gives  place  to 
the  other,  which  is  its  substance  and  glory,  and  endures  forever : 
ever  the  same  in  substance  and  glory. 

The  covenant  of  grace  thus  runs  through  all  Scripture  and, 
the  history  of  the  Church,  but  administered  differently  before 
and  after  the  coming  of  Christ  :  before  the  coming  of  Christ, 
administered  by  promises  and  prophecies ;  by  sacrifices,  cir- 


100  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

cumcision,  the  Paschal  Lamb,  and  other  types  and  ordinances : 
by  Prophets  and  Priests,  in  Tabernacle  and  Temple,  in  Syna- 
gogues, and  by  the  reading  and  preaching  of  the  "Word  of 
God.  After  His  coming,  the  promises  and  prophecies  passed 
into  fulfilment  ;  the  priests  and  sacrifices,  the  tjqies  and 
shadows  lost  themselves  in  the  substance — Christ  Jesus  ; 
baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supj)er  became  the  only  two  sacra- 
ments ;  the  temple  was  taken  down  after  that  Jesus  had 
entered  into  Heaven  itself  and  laid  open  the  way  into  the 
holy  of  holies  above  ;  and  Apostles  and  elders  went  every- 
where with  the  Scriptures,  and  extended  the  blessings  of  the 
covenant  to  all  mankind. 


DIFFERENCES  BETWEEN  THE  TWO  COVENANTS.  101 


CHAPTER  X. 

DIFFEEEN0E8  BETWEEN  THE  TWO  COVENANTS. — CUE  FIRST  PARENTS  DRIVEN 
OTTT  OF  EDEN. — THE  CntTROU  BEGUN  ON  EARTH  IN  ADAm's  FAMILY. — 
THE    FIRST    MARTYR    ABEL. — POLYGAMY. 

The  two  covenants  agree  in  all  essential  particulars  as 
covenants.  Each  has  God  for  its  author,  and  His  glory  for  its 
end  ;  each  has  its  two  contracting  parties,  with  prescribed 
couditioDS  and  promises  :  and  both  are  made  by  God,  with 
federal  heads,  or  public  persons,  who  represent  their  own  pecu- 
liar seed  ;  and,  in  both  covenants,  the  consequences  of  the  acts 
of  the  federal  heads  are  visited  upon  those  whom  they  rep- 
resent :  and  their  rewards  are  eternal ! 

But  there  are  marked  differences :  In  the  covenant  of 
works  God  appears  as  our  Creator,  administering  justice ;  in 
the  covenant  of  grace  He  appears  as  our  Heavenly  Father, 
bestowing  mere}'.  In  the  first,  He  has  respect  to  man  as  up- 
right and  lioly  ;  in  the  second,  as  fallen  and  sinful.  The  first 
covenant  He  makes  witli  the  first  Adam,  immediately  acting 
for  himself  and  his  seed  ;  the  second,  He  makes  with  the  sec- 
ond Adam,  immediately  acting  for  the  seed  given  Him  by  the 
Father.  In  the  first,  Adam  was  the  federal  head  of  all  his  pos- 
terity descending  from  him  by  ordinary  generations ;  in  the 
second,  Christ  is  the  federal  head  of  all  His  spiritual  seed — 
those  whom  God  determined  to  save. 

It  seems  never  to  have  been  the  design  of  God  to  confer 
life  upon  men  save  through  a  representative  or  public  person. 
Men  were  not  to  stand,  each  for  himself,  under  the  covenants ; 


102  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    OF   GOD. 

but  Adam  was  to  stand,  under  the  one,  for  liis  seed :  and  Christ, 
under  the  other,  for  His  seed.  Hence,  Adam  gave  death,  and 
Christ  gave  life  to  their  seeds,  respectively.  The  condemna- 
tion was,  by  the  imputation  of  the  sin  of  Adam,  upon  all 
mankind  ;  and  the  justification  was,  by  the  imputation  of  the 
righteousness  of  Ciirist,  upon  a  part  only.  In  the  first,  the 
condition  of  obtaining  life  was  by  works?,  or  personal  righteous- 
ness ;  in  the  second,  the  condition  was  by  faith,  or  through 
the  righteousness  of  another.  Under  the  first,  man  is  in  a 
state  of  nature,  relying  upon  his  own  strength  ;  under  tbe 
second,  he  is  in  a  state  of  grace,  relying  upon  the  strength  of 
another.  Under  the  first  covenant  man  is  lost,  but  has  hope 
under  the  second  ;  under  the  second,  he  is  saved,  but,  if  salva- 
tion be  rejected,  he  perishes  forever  !  Under  the  first,  he  is 
left  to  the  freedom  of  his  own  will ;  under  the  second,  he  is 
brought  under  the  almighty  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Un- 
der the  first  convenant  broken,  the  throne  of  God  is  a  throne 
of  wrath,  and  men  dare  not  approach  it ;  under  the  second,  it 
is-  a  throne  of  mercy,  and  men  are  drawn  to  it  in  love.  The 
first  wrought  despair  ;  tbe  second,  bope.  The  first  tln-ew 
open  hell ;  the  second,  heaven. 

Having  revealed  to  our  first  parents  salvation  from  the 
ruins  of  the  fall,  in  pursuance  of  His  counsels  in  respect  to  the 
accomplishment  in  all  its  parts  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  the 
Lord  drove  them  out  of  the  garden  of  Eden — now  no  longer 
the  type  and  foretaste  of  that  heaven  which  had  been  offered 
as  the  reward  of  their  obedience — and  placed  Cherubims  and  a 
flaming  sword,  wbicli  turned  every  way  to  keep  the  way  of 
the  tree  of  life — thereby  signifying  that  divine  justice  was 
aimed  against  them :  nor  could  they  hope  for  deliverance  from 
the  curse  wbich  had  fallen  upon  them,  save  through  the  seed 
of  the  woman,  who  was  to  quench  in  His  own  blood  the 
flaming  sword,  and  by  His  merits  win  their  way  back  to  the 
Paradise  which  they  had  lost. 

Greatly  changed  were  the  character  and  circumstances  of 
our  first  parents  between  the  day  of  their  entering  in  and 
the  day  of  their  being  driven  out  of  Paradise !  They  went 
in  under  the  law  to  be  justified  by  their  own  righteousness ; 


OUR  FIRST   PARENTS   DRIVEN   OUT   OF   PARADISE.  103 

they  were  driven  out  for  their  sin  :  tliey  went  in  to  be 
justified  by  tlieir  o^vn  merits  ;  they  were  driven  out  to  find 
merit  for  justification  in  another  :  they  went  in  to  stand  be- 
fore God  without  a  mediator  ;  they  were  driven  out  to  seek 
one  :  they  went  in  holy  with  power  to  stand  ;  they  were 
driven  out  depraved  and  utterly  fallen  :  they  went  in  happy 
with  heaven  promised  ;  they  were  driven  out  miserable  with 
hell  deserved  :  they  went  in  communing  with  God  ;  they 
were  driven  out  separated  from  Him  :  they  went  in  to  give 
eternal  life  to  all  their  posterity  ;  they  were  driven  out  to 
entail  eternal  death  upon  them  :  they  went  in  with  hope,  and 
found  despair ;  they  were  driven  out  in  despair,  that  they 
might  fiud  hope  :  they  went  in  under  justice  ;  they  were 
di'iven  out  under  mercy  :  they  went  in  under  the  covenant  of 
works  ;  they  were  driven  out  under  the  covenant  of  grace. 

The  events  which  immediately  preceded  and  gave  exist 
ence  to  the  Church,  have  now  been  reviewed — namely,  the 
creation  and  primitive  state  of  man,  the  institution  of  marriage,' 
the  covenant  of  works,  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath,  the  ex- 
istence and  agency  of  angels,  the  Ml  of  our  first  parents  and 
its  consequences,  the  salvation  provided  for,  and  the  temporal 
judgments  inflicted  upon  the  transgressors,  Adam  and  Eve, 
the  parents  of  all  mankind,  the  origin  and  institution  of 
sacrifices,  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  our  first  parents  driven 
out  of  Eden  under  that  covenant  ;  and  we  have  now  arrived 
at  the  beginninoj  of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  world. 

The  Church  has  its  origin  in  the  purposes  of  the  ever- 
blessed  Trinity,  to  show  forth  their  unsearchable  love  to  their 
creatures  in  a  way  of  mercy,  which  purposes  are  contained  in 
and  make  up  the  covenant  of  grace.  The  covenant  of  grace, 
therefore,  enfolds  the  Church  of  God — Jesus  Christ,  the 
Mediator,  being  the  rock,  "  the  chief  corner-stone  thereof, 
elect,  precious."  The  fall  destroyed  the  covenant  of  works, 
and  was  the  occasion  of  the  commencement  of  the  Church 
under  the  covenant  of  grace. 

Our  Lord  immediately  began  the  exercise  of  His  media- 
torial office  :  His  office  as  Prophet,  by  His  Word  and  Spirit 
to  reveal   the   will   of  God  to  our   fallen   parents  for  their 


104  THE   HISTOKY    OF   THE   CHUECH   OF    GOD. 

salvation — His  office  as  Priest  to  atone  and  intercede  for 
tliem,  and  His  office  as  King  in  Heaven  and  in  earth  to  rule 
over  and  defend  and  preserve  them  nnto  life  eternal ;  and,  as 
we  believe,  (upon  the  general  drift  of  Scripture,)  the  first 
trophies  of  His  redeeming  love  and  power  were  our  first 
parents  themselves ;  the  firstfruits  of  the  harvest  of  the  world ; 
the  first  lively  stones  set  upon  the  true  foundation,  which,  by 
the  addition  of  countless  multitudes,  should  grow  into  the 
holy  temple  of  Grod  ;  the  first  souls  gathered,  wherewith  to 
begin  that  general  Assembly  and  Church  of  the  firstborn 
whose  names  are  written  in  Heaven. 

And  thus  commences  the  Church  of  God  after  the  fall^ 
under  her  Divine  Head,  and  with  these  two  members  only ; 
and  the  pleasing  task  now  before  us  shall  be  to  trace  the 
history  of  this  Church  as  rendered  by  holy  men  of  God,  who 
spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  conception  and  birth  of  children  only  after  the  fall, 
reveals  the  purpose  of  God,  that  Adam  should  have  no  children 
until  after  his  trial ;  that  event  being  past,  his  posterity  would 
follow  his  fortunes  ;  he  would  beget  a  son  in  his  own  likeness, 
Gen.  V.  3,  and  flesh  would  be  born  of  flesh  ever  after ;  John 
iii.  6 ;  and  all  "  be  by  nature  children  of  wrath,"  Eph.  ii.  3. 

'No  longer  supplied  by  the  trees .  of  the  garden,  Adam 
began  to  be  a  husbandman.  "  There  is  a  spirit  in  man,  and 
the  inspiration  of  the  Almighty  giveth  them  understanding," 
Job  xxxii.  8,  and  so  without  question  he  was  inspired  with  a 
knowledge  of  fruits  and  herbs,  and  grains,  and  the  proper 
methods  of  their  cultivation  :  and  also  with  a  knowledge  of 
such  animals  as  would  contribute  to  his  comfort  and  support, 
and  of  the  art  of  subjugating  and  domesticating  them.  A 
merciful  God  taught  His  children  "  more  than  the  beasts  of 
the  earth,  and  made  them  wiser  than  the  fowls  of  heaven." 
Job  XXXV.  11.  The  knowledge,  thus  communicated  and  re- 
duced to  practice,  and  improved  by  experience  and  observa- 
tion, was  handed  down  to  after  generations,  and  j)erfected 
from  age  to  age. 

Passing  safely  through  her  sorrows,  Eve  beheld  the  face 
of  her  firstborn,  and,  with  a  mother's  joy  and  a  mother's  grati- 


THE   FLKST   MAKTYK   ABEL.  105 

tude,  exclaimed,  "  I  have  gotten  a  man  from  the  Lord ! 
Through  His  mercy  I  have  obtained  this  precious  possession." 
And  she  called  his  name  Cain,  signifying  something  obtained 
— a  possession. 

Her  second  son  was  Abel,  a  keeper  of  sheep ;  Cain  was 
a  tiller  of  the  ground.  Brought  up  in  the  nurture  and  ad- 
monition of  the  Lord,  in  process  of  time  they  worship  God 
by  sacrifice.  "  Cain  brought  of  the  fruit  of  the  ground  an 
ofiering  unto  the  Lord  " — a  bloodless  sacrifice — and  for  accept- 
ance it  should  have  been  offered  through  faitli  in  the  great 
sacrifice.  That  there  were  other  kinds  of  sacrifice,  besides 
those  of  beasts,  made  known  to  Adam,  and  required  of  him 
by  the  Lord,  this  ofiering  of  Cain  proves  conclusively.  Moses 
afterwards,  among  the  various  kinds  of  sacrifices,  describes  "  the 
fruit  of  the  ground,"  "  the  firstfruits "  of  husbandry,  Numb, 
xviii.  12-13,  whether  of  "  oil  or  wine  or  wheat,"  or  "  what- 
soever was  first  ripe,"  Levit.  ii.  12-13  ;  Exod.  xxiii.  19 ;  Neh. 
X.  35  ;  Exod.  xxii.  29  ;  xxxiv.  26  ;  Deut.  xxvi.  1-10,  "  thou 
shalt  set  it  (the  firstfruits)  before  the  Lord  thy  God,  and 
worship  before  the  Lord  thy  God ; "  and  if  the  fruit  of  the 
grouud  was  fine  flour,  with  oil  and  frankincense,  then  it  was  a 
meat-offering,  to  be  "  brought  to  the  altar,"  and  "  offered  by 
fire  " — "  a  sweet  savor  unto  the  Lord,"  Levit.  ii.  1-11. 

"  And  Abel,  he  also  brought  of  the  firstlings  of  his  flock, 
and  of  the  fat  thereof.  And  the  Lord  had  respect  unto 
Abel,  and  to  his  offering  "  (the  acceptance  of  the  person  pre- 
cedes the  acceptance  of  the  offering) ;  "  but  unto  Cain,  and  to 
his  offering,  He  had  not  respect."  In  what  manner  God  tes- 
tified His  respect  to  the  one  and  not  to  the  other,  we  do  not 
know.  It  is  of  more  importance  for  us  to  understand  the 
reason  why  He  made  a  difference  between  the  brothers. 
"  Abel  offered  a  more  excellent  sacrifice  than  Cain,"  because 
he  oflTered  it  "  by  faith."  He  approached  God  through  the 
promised  Redeemer,  and  was  a  true  believer,  and  was  in  a 
state  of  grace  before  God.  Cain  was  not :  he  had  a  profess- 
ed faith  in  God,  but  no  saving  faith ;  he  had  not  repented, 
nor  sought  pardon  and  acceptance  with  God  through  the 
promised  Saviour  ;   and,  therefore,  God   had  respect  neither 


106  THE   EISTOKY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

unto  his  person,  nor  to  liis  offering.  It  was  not  the  difference 
in  the  kind  of  sacrifices  or  offerings  brought  bj  Cain  and  Abel, 
but  the  difference  in  the  spirit,  in  the  state  of  the  heart,  with 
which  tliey  presented  them,  that  led  to  the  rejection  of  the 
one,  and  to  the  acceptance  of  the  other.  This  is  the  view 
of  the  Apostle  Paul  in  Heb.  xi.  4,  and  the  Apostle  John 
agrees  with  him,  who  remarks  of  Cain  that  he  was  "  of  that 
wicked  one."  "  His  works,"  of  course,  "  were  evil ;  "  on  the 
contrary,  the  works  of  Abel  were  "  righteous."  1  John  iii.  12. 
And  here,  in  the  earliest  worship  in  the  Church,  the  Lord 
makes  known  the  truth,  "  that  He  is  a  Spirit,  and  they  that 
worship  Him  must  worship  Him  in  Spirit  and  in  truth :  "  and 
gives  an  example  for  all  coming  ages,  that  no  man  can  come 
unto  the  Father  but  by  the  Son.  The  person  and  services  are 
both  accepted  because  washed  in  the  blood  of  the  great 
atoning  sacrifice. 

Cain  was  wroth,  and  his  countenance  fell,  and  the  Lord 
God  reasons  with  him  :  "  "Why  art  thou  wroth  ?  and  why  is 
thy  countenance  fallen  ?  If  thou  doest  well,  shalt  thou  not 
1)0  accepted  ?  "  There  is  ground  that  thou  shouldst  not  be 
accepted,  since  thou  art  imbelieving.  "  Sin  lieth  at  the  door." 
The  remainder  of  the  verse  is  obscure  and  variously  inter- 
preted :  "  And  unto  thee  shall  be  his  -desire,  and  thou  shalt 
rule  over  him."  The  difiiculty  lies  in  determining  what  or 
who  is  the  antecedent  of  the  pronoun  "  his "  and  "  him." 
The  only  parallel  expression  is  in  Gen.  iii.  16  ;  and,  following 
tlie  interpretation  given  to  that  passage,  the  antecedent  would 
be  a  person  ;  and,  if  so,  no  other  person  could  be  intended 
than  Abel.  The  Lord  would  appease  the  anger  of  Cain 
against  his  brother,  which  he  saw  rising  to  a  dreadful  height, 
by  assuring  him  that  Abel's  desire  or  strong  attachment  avouM 
continue  to  him,  and  that  he,  as  the  elder  brother,  should  rule 
over  him.  Their  friendly  relations  and  relative  positions  in 
the  family  would  not  be  affected  by  the  favor  shown  to  the 
younger.  Cain  could  have  no  just  ground  of  wrath,  since 
Abel  had  done  and  would  do  him  no  evil. 

The  expostulation  proved  fruitless.  "And  Cain  talked 
(peaceably)  with  Abel  his  brother ;  and  it  came  to  pass,  when 


THE   FIKST   MAKTYR   ABEL.  107 

they  were  in  the  field,  Cain  rose  up  against  Abel  his  brother, 
and  slew  him  !  And  wherefore  slew  he  him  ? "  It  was 
the  first  stroke  of  persecution.  It  was  the  outbursting  of  the 
enmity  of  the  carnal  mind  against  God.  lie  slew  him, 
"  because  his  own  works  were  evil,  and  his  brother's  righteous." 
He  hated  and  slew  him  because  of  his  piety.  lie  was  of  that 
wicked  one  whose  wish  it  is  to  oppose  the  seed  of  the  woman, 
and  to  bruise  his  heel !  Abel  died  in  faith  and  for  his  faith  : 
is  the  first  martyr  in  the  Church  of  God !  the  first  of  tliat 
long  and  glorious  cloud  of  witnesses  which  would  follow  in 
the  footsteps  of  liis  faith,  and  endure  persecutions  and  deaths 
for  Christ's  sake.     Heb.  xi.  1^0. 

The  two  brothers  respectively  represent  the  two  great 
classes  into  which  the  world  has  ever  since  been  divided :  Abel 
represents  the  righteous,  and  illustrates  the  character  and  power 
of  the  religion  of  the  Saviour ;  and,  in  the  treatment  whicli 
he  receives  from  his  brother,  foreshadows  what  the  followers 
of  the  Saviour  might  expect  from  the  world.  Cain  represents 
the  world,  and  illustrates  the  character  and  power  of  depravity ; 
and,  in  his  treatment  of  his  brother,  shows  the  deadly  oppo- 
sition which  the  world  will  manifest  against  the  Church ; 
and  here,  and  thus  early,  the  enmity  between  the  seed  of  the 
woman  and  the  seed  of  the  Evil  One  openly  commences. 
Gen,  iii.  15. 

For  reasons  nnrevealed  the  Lord  forbore  to  shed  the  blood 
of  Cain  for  his  brother's  blood,  which  cried  for  vengeance 
fi'om  the  ground,  but  excommunicated  him  from  the  assembly 
of  the  righteous,  where  His  presence  was  manifested  in  love, 
and  drove  hira  off  to  be  a  fuscitive  and  a  vagabond  on  the 
earth,  cursed  with  double  barrenuess  whenever  he  should  till  it. 
That  death  was  the  penalty  of  the  crime  of  murder  in  this 
earliest  period  of  the  world's  history,  is  not  only  implied  in 
the  answer  of  Cain  to  God,  "  It  shall  come  to  pass  that 
every  one  that  findeth  me  shall  slay  me,"  but  also  in  the  re- 
mark of  Lamech,  tlic  son  of  Cain,  to  one  of  his  wives,  when 
he  himself  had  slain  a  man.  Gen.  iv.  23-24.  That  penalty  was 
afiixed  to  the  crime  of  murder  by  God  Himself,  and  renew- 
ed after  the  flood.   Gen.   ix.    5-6.    In   His  sovereignty   He 


108  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

waived  the  execution  of  it  in  the  case  of  Cain,  and  allayed 
his  fears  that  it  would  be  visited  upon  him  afterwards,  by 
setting  a  mark  upon  Cain,  or,  rather,  giving  him  a  sign,  the 
nature  of  which  is  not  declared,  that  none  finding  him 
should  kill  him. 

The  Holy  Spirit  allots  but  a  brief  space  to  the  history  of 
Cain  and  his  descendants,  and  closes  with  a  notice  of  his  son 
of  the  fifth  generation  as  a  polygamist,  and  as  having  killed  a 
man  who  had  inflicted  some  injury  upon  him.  Gen.  iv.  16-24- 
Cain's  race  appears  to  have  been  wholly  of  the  world,  and  all 
perished  with  the  ungodly  in  the  flood.  This  man  Lamech, 
the  fifth  from  Cain,  must  have  been  born  between  five  and 
six  hundred  years  after  the  creation,  by  which  time  men  had 
begun  to  multiply  greatly  upon  the  earth,  and  also  to  become 
corrupt,  especially  in  their  departure  from  the  original  institu- 
tion of  marriage.  Gen.  vi.  1-2.  Polygamy  may  have  been 
practised  in  his  time,  though  not  as  extensively  as  in  ages 
after,  nearer  the  flood.  He  is  the  first  polygamist  mentioned ; 
and  the  practice,  as  it  stands  connected  with  the  Church,  ac- 
cording to  our  plan,  will  in  this  place  be  disposed  of. 

The  degeneracy  of  the  old  world,  which  finally  brought  on 
the  flood,  was  laid  in  the  unrestrained  practice  of  polygamy 
among  the  professed  people  of  God  ;  and,  to  aggravate  the  evil, 
their  wives,  a  proportion  of  them  at  least,  were  chosen  from 
irreligious  women.  Gen.  vi.  1-7.  Here  dates  the  first  ap- 
pearance of  polygamy  in  the  Church,  but  precisely  how  long 
after  the  creation  it  is  impossible  to  say :  for  the  Holy  Ghost 
has  it  rendered,  generally  :  '•  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  men 
began  to  multiply  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  daughters  were 
born  unto  them,  that  the  sons  of  God,"  &c. 

No  mention  is  made  of  the  practice,  and  no  examples 
given  after  the  flood,  until  the  time  of  Abraham.  Gen.  xvi. 
1-16.  He  took  Hagar  "  to  be  his  wife,"  at  the  instance  of 
Sarah.  Wliile  the  act  was  followed  with  much  family  dis- 
turbance, it  is  not  condemned  by  the  sacred  writer,  nor  by 
any  who  afterwards  spake  of  Abraham,  nor  by  the  Lord 
Himself.  Chapters  xvii.,  xviii.,  and  xxi.  He  is  commended 
as  conducting  himself  well  in  liis  household  and  ordering  it 


POLYGAMY.  109 

ariglit,  so  as  to  bring  down  God's  blessing  upon  liim.  Gen. 
xviii.  17-19. 

Next  follows  in  his  footsteps,  Esau,  his  grandson  ;  and  the 
distress  of  Isaac  and  Rebecca  seems  to  have  flowed,  not  from 
the  number,  but  the  character  of  his  wives.  Gen.  xxvi.  34-35  ; 
xxvii.  46  ;  for,  perceiving  afterwards  that  his  .wives,  "  the 
daughters  of  Canaan,  pleased  not  Isaac  his  fatlier,"  he  went 
and  married  a  descendant  of  Ishmael,  xxviii.  6-9.  His 
brother  Jacob,  the  heir  of  the  promises,  was  also  a  polygam- 
ist,  having  four  wives,  all  of  whom  are  reckoned  in  Scripture 
as  his  true  and  lawful  wives ;  and  all  his  twelve  sons,  "  the 
twelve  Patriarchs,"  born  of  them,  his  true  and  legitimate 
children.  These  were  all  included  in  the  visible  Church. 
Gen.,  chapters  29,  30,  31,  32,  33-50. 

There  is  no  evidence  that  these  twelve  Patriarchs  were 
polygamists ;  nor  have  we  any  instance  again  of  polygamy 
among  the  people  of  God  before  the  giving  of  the  law  by 
Moses  ;  but  that  polygamy  was  practised  and  tolerated  at  the 
giving  of  the  law,  is  evident  from  Exod.  xxi.  10 :  for  Moses 
requires  of  a  husband  who  takes  another  wife,  faithfully  to 
perform  tlie  entire  duty  of  a  husband  to  the  first — of  j^rovi- 
sion,  protection,  affection,  and  intercourse  ;  and  also  from 
Deut.  xxi.  15,  where  the  Lawgiver  regulates  the  conduct  of  a 
father  having  "  two  wives  " — one  beloved  and  another  hated  " 
— and  having  children  by  both.  He  forbids  his  setting  the 
son  of  the  beloved  wife  before  the  firstborn  son  by  the  hated 
wife,  vs.  16-17.  So,  again,  in  Deut.  xvii.  17,  the  king,  while 
allowed  a  plurality  of  wives,  was  forbidden  to  have  a  multitude 
of  them.  Their  kings  had  a  plurality  of  wives  ;  but  Solomon 
took  to  him  a  multitude,  and  they  turned  his  heart  away  from 
God.     1  Kings  xi.  1-8. 

The  passage  in  Levit.  xviii.  18 — "  Neither  shalt  thou  take 
a  wife  to  her  sister,  to  vex  her,  to  uncover  her  nakedness, 
beside  the  other,  in  her  lifetime  " — is  not  a  command  against 
polygamy,  as  some  suppose — and  to  make  it  such,  they  ex- 
plain it  thus :  "  Thou  shalt  not  take  one  wife  to  her  sister  ; 
that  is,  one  wife  to  another  in  her  lifetime ;  " — but,  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  a  command  forbidding,  literally,  the  marrying 


110  THE    HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

of  two  sisters,  in  the  practice  of  polygamy  (as,  for  example, 
Jacob  did).  Moses,  in  the  previous  prohibitions,  had  marked 
out  distinctly  the  degrees  of  consanguinity  and  affinity  :  Thou 
shalt  not  marry  "  thy  sister,"  v.  11 ;  "  thine  aunt,"  vs.  12,  14 ; 
"  thy  daughter-in-law,"  v.  15  ;  "  thy  brother's  wife,"  v.  16, 
&c. ;  and  here  :  thou  shalt  not  marry  two  sisters.  It  is  indeed 
prohibited  in  v.  16 — "  Thou  shalt  not  marry  thy  brother's 
wife" — by  consequence  and  analogy  ;  but  here,  in  v.  18,  it  is 
prohibited  expressly.  And,  if  a  woman  may  not  marry  two 
brothers,  the  converse  holds  true — a  man  may  not  marry  two 
sisters.  The  words  "  in  her  lifetime  "  are  to  be  connected 
with  "  to  vex  her  ; ".  that  is,  while  she  lives.  The  meaning  is 
not,  that  if  the  one  sister  be  dead,  the  widower  may  marry  the 
other,  for  this  is  the  very  connection  forbidden  in  v.  16  ;  and, 
if  the  marrying  of  two  sisters  was  lawful  at  all,  as  polygamy 
was  allowed,  there  v/as  no  need  of  introducing  any  such  pro- 
hibition as  this  in  v.  18,  which  we  are  considering.  The 
sum  is  the  marrying  of  two  sisters  is  unlawful,  and  therefore 
thou  shalt  not  do  it,  when  thou  becomest  a  polygamist.  The 
possession  of  one  husband  by  two  sisters  would,  besides  its 
unlawfulness,  be  a  source  of  ceaseless  vexation.  Leah  and 
Rachel  proved  it  so. 

The  practice  prevailed  in  the  times  of  the  Judges  :  Gideon 
had  "  many  wives,"  Judges  viii.  30-31 ;  comp.  x.  4- ;  xii.  14, 
Elkanah,  the  father  of  Samuel,  had  "two  wives.''  1  Sam.  i, 
1-2.  Also,  in  the  time  of  the  Kings :  David  had  numerous 
wives,  1  Sam.  xxv.  41-43  ;  2  Sam.  iii.  3-5  ;  v.  13 ;  1  Chron. 
iii.  1,  &c.  ;  also  Solomon,  1  Kings  xi.  3-4,  and  Eehoboam, 
2  Chron.  xi.  21-23  ;  comp.  2  Chron.  xiii.  21 ;  2  Kings  x.  1. 
The  High-Priest  Jehoida  took  for  the  young  king  Joash 
"  two  wives."  2  Chron.  xxiv.  1-3.  After  the  captivity,  Ezra 
and  Kehemiah  caused  the  Jews  to  put  away  their  strange 
or  heathen  wives,  but  no  case  is  mentioned  of  polygamy 
until  after  the  latter  period  of  the  reign  of  the  Maccabean 
Princes. 

No  case  is  discovered  of  polygamy  in  the  Church  in  the  New 
Testament  times.  The  Apostles  and  private  members  who 
are  mentioned  as  married  men,  had  each  but  one  wife.     And 


POLYGAMY.  Ill 

the  Apostle  Paul  lays  down  the  nile,  that  no  man  could  be  a 
bishop,  who  had  more  wives  than  one.  Matt.  viii.  14  ;  1  Cor. 
ix.  5  ;  1  Tim.  iii.  1-2.  Indeed,  it  was  a  practice  not  very  gen- 
eral iu  the  Church,  after  the  flood,  at  any  time ;  for  it  is  ex- 
ceedingly prejudicial  to  the  proper  care  and  education  of 
children,  and  is  attended  with  such  unquenchable  jealousies, 
such  confusion,  unhappiness,  and  expense  in  families,  that  but 
few  men  are  able  or  willing  to  indulge  in  it,  and  they  of  the 
richer  and  more  brutish  sort. 

jSToah  and  his  sons  had  but  one  wife  each.  Job,  Isaac, 
Joseph,  Moses,  Aaron,  and  the  Apostles,  were  husbands  of  but 
one  wife.  The  High-Priest  was  suffered  to  have  but  one  wife ; 
at  her  death  he  might  marry  again.  Levit.  xxi.  10-14.  Polyg- 
amy was  common  among  all  nations.  It  must  have  been 
so  in  Abraham's  time.  It  was  custom,  and  a  custom  that  be- 
came legalized.  All  we  can  say  of  it,  in  connection  with  the 
people  of  God,  is,  that  falling  in  with  the  practice,  it  pleased 
God  to  tolerate  it  for  the  time  then  present,  and  that  by  ex- 
press allowance  in  His  law,  as  we  have  seen  ;  and  under  that 
permission,  polygamy,  as  practised  by  His  people,  was  not  sin- 
ful. "We  discover  Abraham,  the  father  of  tlie  faithful,  a  polyg- 
amist  without  condemnation ;  also,  Jacob,  Gideon,  Elkanah, 
David,  Solomon,  and  others,  who  are  reckoned  among  the 
saints  of  God.  Heb.  xi.  The  Lord  for  the  time  then  present 
dispensed  with  the  original  law  of  marriage,  so  that  they  who 
were  polygamists  were  not  guilty  of  adultery,  while  confining 
themselves  to  their  own  acknowledged  and  affianced  wives. 
To  suppose  the  contrary  would  involve  the  consequence,  ab- 
horrent to  every  right  conception  of  God,  that  He  would 
lightly  esteem  so  great  a  sin  as  adultery,  and  approve  those 
livino;  all  their  lives  in  it,  amono*  His  chosen  saints  and  most 
beloved  ones  !  Under  this  dispensation  of  God,  therefore,  a 
plurality  of  wives  was  no  adulter^-.  Adultery  consisted  then 
(as  it  now  does)  in  familiarity  with  the  wife  of  another  man, 
whether  he  had  but  one,  or  more. 

While  polygamy  was  allowed,  Moses  restrained  its  abuses 
by  permitting  divorces  only  in  a  lawful  form.  Deut.  xxiv.  1. 
And  if  a  man  married  the  wife  of  another,  who  could  show 


112  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

no  writing  of  divorcement,  he  and  she  were  both  guilty  of 
adultery. 

But  the  permission  of  polygamy  in  the  Kingdom  of  God 
was  taken  away  forever  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  at  His 
coming,  in  Matt.  xix.  1-12  and  Mark  x.  1-12.  He  restored 
the  original  law  of  marriage,  and  His  Apostles  established 
the  same. 

The  excommunication  of  Cain  justifies  the  inference  that 
a  distinction  was  made  between  the  consistent,  professing 
people  of  God,  and  those  who  were  openly  wicked ;  that  at 
this  early  day  mankind  were  di%'ided  into  two  classes — the 
people  of  God,  and  the  people  of  the  world ;  of  the  latter 
class,  Cain  and  his  descendants  seem  to  have  continued ;  but 
it  should  not  be  affirmed  that,  through  the  family  of  Cain,  all 
the  other  descendants  of  Adam  were  cori'upted,  for  there  is 
no  Scripture  to  prove  it ;  for  all  were  born  depraved,  and  their 
corruptions  could  proceed  from  themselves  witliout  tlie  wick- 
ed examples  or  temptations  of  Cain  and  his  children  to  in- 
fluence them. 

Some  considerable  time  elapsed  after  Adam  and  Eve  left 
Paradise  before  Cain  slew  Abel,  for  he  was  a  married  man 
when  he  went  out  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  chapters 
4,  16,  17 ;  and  it  was  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  after  the 
creation  that  Setli  was  born,  whose  name  signifies  "appointed" 
or  "  put,"  and  which  his  mother  gave  him,  as  a  son  to  be  put 
in  the  place  of  Abel,  particularly  in  the  line  of  spiritual  de- 
scent— the  one  who  was  to  be  the  next  progenitor  of  the 
coming  Redeemer. 

Seth  begat  Enos  two  hundred  and  thirty  years  after  the 
creation  ;  Adam  meanwhile  had  begotten  many  sons  and 
daughters,  and  they  in  turn  many  others  ;  and  the  population 
of  the  world  was  multiplying  rapidly.  On  the  birth  of  Enos 
"  men  began  to  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord."  Gen.  iv. 
26.  Not  that  now,  for  the  first  time,  men  began  to  separate 
themselves  from  the  ungodly,  and  unite  in  a  religious  society, 
and  have  God's  name  named  among  them,  and  to  meet  for 
public  worship ;  for,  of  necessity,  from  the  very  nature  of  holi- 
ness and  sin,  this  separation,  and  this  union,  and  this  worship, 


POLYGAMY.  113 

must  have  existed  long  before,  and  of  wliicli  the  excommuni- 
cation of  Cain  gives  us  assurance.  And  it  is  folly  to  assert, 
that  public  worship  was  now  first  set  up  and  reduced  to 
order,  and  that  liturgies,  or  something  like  these,  began  to  be 
used !  The  passage  is  obscure,  but,  taken  in  its  immediate 
connection,  and  in  its  most  natural  construction,  it  refers  to  Seth 
himself.  The  verb  "  began  "  in  the  original  Hebrew  is  sin- 
gular ;  nor  is  there  any  word  corresponding  to  "  men  "  in  our 
translation.  The  literal  rendering  is,  "  And  to  Seth,  also  to 
him,  there  was  born  a  son  ;  and  he  called  his  name  Enos : 
then  he  began  to  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord ;  "  that  is, 
Seth  himself  began  to  worship  God  after  the  birth,  of  his  son  ; 
previously  he  had  not  done  so.  If,  however,  the  verb  "  began  " 
be  rendered  impersonally,  as  in  our  translation,  then  we  may 
supply  the  word  men :  "  Men  began  to  call  upon  the  name 
of  the  Lord  :  implying  greater  calling  upon  God  than  usual : 
a  time  of  greater  spirituality :  nay,  more,  something  like  a 
revival  of  religion."  The  facts  from  this  history  are,  that 
Adam  trained  up  his  children  in  the  knowledge  and  worship 
of  God  ;  that  worship  was  by  sacrifice,  and  the  true  worshipper 
exercised  faith  in  the  great  sacrifice  to  come  ;  that  these 
sacrifices  were  of  dififerent  kinds,  but  all  looking  to  the  same 
end ;  that  the  division  among  men  was  made  ;  that  the  cor- 
ruption of  polygamy  argued  great  declension  ;  and  that 
God  watched  over  and  communicated  with  His  people,  and 
interposed  in  their  afiairs. 

With  the  exception  of  the  notice  of  Cain's  descendants 
from  the  birth  of  Seth  to  the  birth  of  N^oah — a  period  verging 
on  to  a  thousand  years — no  other  record  is  preserved  but  that 
of  the  line  of  spiritual  descent  of  the  Patriarchs,  and  the 
prophecy  (Jude,  vs.  14-15)  and  translation  of  Enoch.  But 
how  much  has  infinite  wisdom  comprehended  in  this  brief 
record  ?  All  that  is  necessary  to  be  preserved  and  known : 
Christ  predicted  ;  Christ  preached  ;  Christ  prophesied  of ; 
Enoch  translated,  and  the  longevity  of  the  Patriarchs  turned 
to  good  account. 

Christ  is  predicted  in  the  genealogy  of  the  sons  of  Adam. 
Gen.  V,  1-32.     How  is  He  predicted  therein  ?     All  these 
8 


114:  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHTJRCH    OF    GOD. 

names  are  the  divinely  selected  progenitors  of  our  Lord,  ap- 
pointed to  stand  in  the  line  of  spiritual  descent,  in  tlie  line 
of  promise — coming  down  the  lapse  of  ages,  always  drawing 
nearer  and  pointing  to  the  seed  of  the  woman.  Each  of  these 
progenitors  in  turn  came  before  the  Church  and  the  world  as 
a  witness  of  the  faithfulness  of  God  to  His  promise  of  a  coming 
Hedeemer  ;  and  in  this  manner  was  He  always  predicted,  and 
held  up  to  the  eye  and  the  faith  of  His  people.  The  names 
in  the  genealogy  are  not  to  be  considered  the  firstborn  in  the 
respective  families ;  such  an  order  not  being  always  observed 
in  the  genealogy  of  our  Lord.  Gen.  iv.  1,  25  ;  v.  3-6  ;  Gen. 
xlix.  1-10,  &c. 

How  Moses  obtained  this  genealogy,  whether  from  au- 
thentic tradition,  or  from  written  documents,  or  from  direct 
revelation,  is  not  material.  It  is  inserted  by  inspiration  of 
God,  adopted  entire  by  Luke  (iii.  23-36),  and,  after  it  ends  in 
Noah,  Luke  continues  the  line  as  furnished  him  again  by 
Moses  in  Gen.  xi.  10-32,  reaching  from  Noah  to  Abraham ; 
and  from  Abraham,  Luke  continues  it  down,  according  to  the 
Scripture,  to  David,  and,  finally,  from  David  to  our  Lord. 

The  existence  of  these  genealogies  from  Adam  to  Noah, 
and  from  Noah  to  Abraham,  proves  that  it  was  the  ordination 
of  God,  from  the  beginning  of  His  Church  in  the  world,  that 
the  genealogies  of  the  families  of  His  people  should  be  pre- 
served distinct  from  each  other.  The  case  of  Judah  and 
Tamar  is  an  illustration  in  point,  Gen.  xxxiii.  1-30,  and  all 
with  the  grand  design  of  preserving  the  genealogy  of  our  Lord 
clear  and  unbroken.  "When  the  Church  was  brought  out  of 
Egypt  and  subjected  to  laws  and  regulations  under  Moses,  this 
arrangement  was  continued  and  perfected.  The  tribes  were 
separated  in  territorial  unity  and  by  local  government,  (though 
united  in  one  general  government,  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical,) 
and  the  different  families  in  each  of  the  tribes  were  obliged  to 
keep  a  regular  table  of  descent  from  age  to  age,  every  precau- 
tion having  been  taken  to  prevent  alienation  of  property  or 
extinction  of  family.  Consequently,  the  genealogies  of  the 
family  of  David,  which  God  promised  to  make  sure,  as  well  as 
all  others,  were  carefully  prescribed  ;  and,  when  Christ  was 


POLYGAMY.  115 

born,  there  was  no  room  for  cavil  that  He  was  not  born  of  "  the 
house  and  lineage  of  David,"  Luke  ii.  1-4.  His  reputed 
father,  Joseph,  was  of  the  family  of  David,  and  legally  He 
was  a  son  of  David,  as  Matthew  shows  in  his  genealogy,  ch.  i. 
13-16.  His  natural  mother,  the  virgin  Mary,  was  of  the 
family  of  David,  as  Luke  shows  in  his  genealogy,  ch.  iii. 
23-36.  So  that  legally  and  naturally,  in  every  way.  He  was 
the  Son  of  David,  the  legal  line  in  Matthew  running  up  to 
David,  through  Solomon  ;  and  the  natural  line  in  Luke, 
through  Nathan  to  David.  Luke  carries  it  up  to  Adam,  and 
with  him  is  Eve,  whose  seed  Christ  should  be. 

Thus,  Christ  is  predicted  in  this  genealogy  as  Adam's  son 
in  the  line  of  promise  ;  and,  in  connection  with  the  sacrifice 
which  typified  His  one  great  sacrifice.  He  was  always  present 
— the  great  object  of  faith  and  salvation  to  His  people  ;  and, 
further,  in  this  line  of  promise  are  to  be  recognized  the  spiritual 
succession  of  the  elect  of  God  and  the  continued  existence  of 
the  Church. 

Christ  is  preached  by  patriarchs,  by  word  and  in  worship, 
to  their  families,  and  to  the  generations  that  rose  around  them ; 
and  is  also  prophesied  of.  Enoch's  prophecy  of  Him  is  pre- 
served by  the  Apostle  Jude,  vs.  14,  15.  "  And  Enoch  also, 
the  seventh  from  Adam,  i3ropliecied  of  these,  saying,  Behold, 
the  Lord  cometh  with  ten  thousand  of  His  saints,  to  execute 
judgment  upon  all,  and  to  convince  all  that  arc  ungodly 
among  them  of  all  their  xmgodly  deeds  which  they  have  un- 
godly committed,  and  of  all  their  hard  speeches  which  un- 
godly sinners  have  spoken  against  Him."  This  prophecy  is 
valuable  for  its  discovery  of  the  extensive  knowledge  of  divine 
faith  enjoyed  by  the  Church,  of  the  fidelity  with  which  it  was 
preached,  and  of  the  rough  reception  which  our  Lord  and  His 
salvation  met  with  in  these  ages.  Enoch  preaches  the  seed 
of  the  woman  as  the  Lord — divine  in  heaven  as  the  Supreme 
Judge,  coming  with  His  holy  ones  to  judge  the  world,  destroy- 
ing the  ungodly  and  saving  the  righteous — as  the  Lord 
sinned  and  spoken  against,  and  rejected  by  the  wicked  ;  yet 
the  Lord,  long-sufi'ering,  warning  them  of  His  coming,  and 
giving  them  space  for  repentance.     Enoch's  preaching  is  the 


116  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   QOD. 

preaching  of  God's  true  prophets  and  ministers  in  all  ages  ;  it 
is  characterized  with  the  love  of  Christ  and  of  the  perishing- 
souls  of  men. 

Enoch  was  a  burning  and  a  shining  light  in  the  world ; 
the  example  of  his  age  for  his  walk  with  God.  He  had  this 
testimony,  that  he  pleased  God  ;  and  for  the  eminence  of  his 
faith  God  conferred  on  him  the  honor  of  translation.  "  Bj 
faith  Enoch  was  translated  that  he  should  not  see  death  ;  and 
was  not  found,  for  God  had  translated  him,  Heb.  xi.  5.  He 
suffered  him  not  to  go  through  the  pains  of  death  and  the  cor- 
ruption of  the  grave ;  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  his  mortal 
underwent  the  necessary  change,  putting  on  immortality  and 
passing  into  the  joy  of  his  Lord.  This  translation,  and  the 
reason  for  it,  were  known  at  the  time,  and  strengthened  and 
comforted  believers.  It  most  impressively  confirmed  the  doc- 
trines of  the  soul's  immortality ";  of  a  state  of  future  rewards 
and  punishment ;  of  justification  by  faith  in  the  coming  Lord 
of  glory  ;  of  the  happiness  of  believers,  and,  by  consequence, 
the  misery  of  unbelievers  immediately  after  death  ;  the  neces- 
sary union  of  soul  and  body  in  the  world  to  come,  and,  by 
consequence,  tlie  resurrection  of  the  bodies  of  all  men  who  die^ 
and  the  change  of  the  bodies  of  all  who  are  alive  at  the  Judg- 
ment-day ;  and  the  tender  love  which  the  Lord  has  towards 
His  people. 

Althouo-h  no  reasons  are  stated  in  the  Sacred  Word  for 
the  extraordinary  longevity  of  those  patriarchs  of  the 
Church,  yet  there  are  reasons  which  naturally  suggest  the 
wisdom  and  goodness  of  God  in  it — for  that  longevity,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  world,  promoted  the  sure  and  steady  in- 
crease of  the  race,  the  lives  of  parents  being  of  unspeakable 
importance  to  the  welfare  of  families.  It  brought  to  a  higher 
state  of  improvement  all  useful  and  necessary  arts  of  life,  such 
as  agriculture,  commerce,  manufactures,  and  architecture  ;  and 
to  more  solidity  and  perfection  human  laws  and  governments. 
It  secured  the  preservation  and  direct  and  easy  transmission 
of  religion— of  the  whole  knowledge  of  God  from  one  age  to 
another.  Li  the  absence  of  all  written  documents,  (if  there 
were  none,)  the  ease  with  which  the  religion  of  the  coming 


POLYGAMY.  117 

Kedeemcr  could  be  handed  down,  even  from  Adam  to  Noah, 
for  1656  years,  is  demonstrated  by  the  fact,  that  between 
Adam  and  Noah  there  was  but  a  single  step,  Lamech,  the 
father  of  Noah,  having  been  cotemporary  with  Adam  for  fifty- 
six  years.  To  make  the  knowledge  of  Noah,  which  he  was  to 
transmit  to  the  world  after  the  flood,  more  perfect  and  reliable 
if  possible,  he  was  himself  cotemporary  with  all  the  patriarchs, 
except  two,  Adam  and  Seth. 

These  holy  men,  progenitors  of  our  Lord,  united  in  the 
same  faith,  and,  endeared  to  each  other,  would  have  a  common 
and  ardent  interest  in  preserving  religion  and  transmitting  it 
pure  to  coming  generations. 


118  THE   HI8T0ET    OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

WICKEDNESS  OF  THE  WOKLD. — EXISTENCE,  AGENCY,  AND  OFFICE  OF  THE 
HOLY  SPIRIT. — THE  FLOOD. — THE  CHURCH  PRESERVED  AND  RE- 
ESTABLISHED.— THE  WORLD  RESERVED  UNTO  FIRE. — FLESH  GRANTED. 
— BLOOD  FORBIDDEN. — LAW  OF  MURDER. — GOVERNMENTS. — ALTARS. — 
DESIGN  OF  THE  FLOOD. — NOAH  TRANSMITS  THE  KNOWLEDGE  OP  GOD 
TO  THE  NEW  WORLD. — HIS  SIN. — PROPHECIES. — DISPERSION  OP  HIS 
POSTERITY. 

With  the  increase  of  men  came  an  increase  of  wickedness 
and  a  general  declension  of  religion,  which  steadily  advanced 
until  this  apostacy  swept  all  before  it,  save  Koah  and  his  family. 
As  Elisha  was  translated  in  a  time  of  great  spirituald  eclension 
in  Israel,  the  same  might  have  been  true  in  respect  to  Enoch's 
translation,  for  his  prophecy  indicates  an  increase  of  daring 
and  open  ungodliness  in  his  day.  The  declension  was  the 
growth  of  centuries,  and  was  hurried  on  and  consummated  by 
"  the  sons  of  God  "• — the  professors  Of  religion — contracting 
marriages  with  the  ungodly — "  the  daughters  of  men  ;  "  and 
also  by  departing  from  the  original  law  of  marriage  and  be- 
coming polygamists.  The  foundations  of  sound  religion  and 
morality,  of  order  and  peace  in  families  and  communities,  of 
purity  and  discipline  in  the  Church,  were  assailed  and  over- 
thrown. "  There  were  giants  in  the  earth  in  these  days." 
The  children  of  the  marriages  between  "  the  sons  of  God  " 
and  "  the  daughters  of  men  "  were  not  a  godly  seed.  Tliey 
became  "  mighty  men,"  and  filled  the  world  with  the  renown 
of  their  exploits.  "When  "  God  looked  upon  the  earth,  behold 
it  was  corrupt,  and  filled  with  violence  ;  for  all  flesh  had  cor- 
rupted his  way  upon  the  earth." 


WICKEDNESS    OF   THE   WORLD.  119 

The  patriarchs,  however,  remained  firm  in  tlic  faith. 
Enoch  walked  with  God  and  prophesied,  rebuking  wickedness 
and  corrupt  professors  of  religion — "  ungodly  men,"  who  had 
"  crept  "  into  the  Church  "  unawares,"  "  turning  the  grace  of 
our  God  into  lasciviousness,  and  denying  the  only  Lord  God," 
Jude  vs.  4-16.  In  his  righteous  life  and  testimony  he  was 
followed  by  his  son  Methuselah,  and  his  grandson  Lamech, 
until  his  great-grandson  ISToah  remained  alone  righteous  on  the 
earth.  The  patriarchs  being  now  all  dead,  Noah  received  the 
first  intimation  that  the  longsnfiering  of  God  was  drawing  to  a 
close,  in  these  memorable  words,  "  My  Spirit  shall  not  always 
strive  with  man,  for  that  he  also  is  flesh  :  yet  his  days  shall  be 
an  hundred  and  twenty  years."  This  is  the  same  Spirit  of  God 
which  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters  in  the  creation.  He 
is  the  Third  Person  in  the  Godhead  ;  the  same  in  substance, 
equal  in  power  and  glory  with  the  Father  and  the  Son.  He 
is  called  God  in  the  highest  sense.  Acts  v.  3-4  ;  2  Tim.  iii.  16  ; 
comp.  2  Pet.  i.  21  ;  Acts  xx.  28  ;  Heb.  v.  4. 

All  the  attributes  of  God  are  ascribed  to  Him.  He  is 
omniscient,  searching  all  things,  yea,  the  deep  things  of  God, 
understanding  and  revealing  all  His  counsels  from  eternity, 
and  all  His  will  to  man  for  salvation.  1  Cor.  ii.  10  ;  comp. 
John  xiv.  26  ;  xv.  26  ;  xvi.  13-14  ;  Isa.  xlix.  9-10  ;  2  Pet.  i. 
21 ;  Tim.  iii.  6. 

He  is  omnipresent — in  all  parts  of  the  world  at  the  same 
time.  ISTaked  and  open  to  Him  are  all  the  hearts  of  men  : 
John  iii.  3-6  ;  xvi.  7-8  ;  1  Cor.  iii.  16  ;  vi.  19  ;  2  Cor.  vi. 
16  ;  1  Pet.  i.  2. 

He  is  almighty — associated  in  the  creation  and  providential 
government  of  the  world  and  of  the  universe.  Gen.  i.  2  ;  Job 
xxvi.  13  ;  Ps.  civ.  30  ;  to  whom  is  committed  the  almighty 
work  of  performing  the  amazing  and  various  miracles  by 
which  the  Revelation  of  God  to  man  is  established,  and  the 
regeneration  and  sanctification  of  the  souls  of  men  in  all  places 
and  in  all  ages,  the  appointing  and  supporting  the  ministers 
of  the  Church,  and  the  care  of  the  Church  itself:  1  Cor.  xii. 
8-11 ;  Heb.  ii.  4  ;  Acts  ii.  1-23  ;  John  iii.  1-8  ;  1  Cor.  ii. 
9-14 ;    Rom.  viii.  9-16.      He  is  the  proper  object  of  divine 


120  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

worsliip,  into  -whose  divine  name  all  are  to  be  baptized,  whose 
communion  is  invoked  upon  all,  whose  influences  none  are  to 
quench,  and  against  whom  alone  the  unpardonable  sin  is  com- 
mitted—Matt, xxviii.  19  ;  2  Cor.  xiii.  14  ;  Eph.  iv.  30  ;  Mark 
iii.  22-30 — a  Person  distinct  from  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
Matt.  iii.  16-17;  John  i.  32-33  ;  xv.  26  ;  xiv.  16-17,  26  ;  Acts 
ii.  33  ;  Eph.  ii.  18,  yet  united  in  the  Holy  Trinity,  Matt,  xxviii. 
19  ;  2  Cor.  13-14. 

This  Holy  Spirit — the  great  agent  of  the  Godhead,  sent 
forth  of  the  Father  and  the  Son,  pervading  the  vast  natural 
and  spiritual  creation  of  God,  by  His  own  almighty  power 
bringing  into  being  and  preserving  in  action  all  the  counsels  of 
God,  whose  special  office  and  work  it  was  in  the  covenant  of 
grace  to  apply  the  salvation  of  God  by  Jesus  Christ  to  the 
souls  of  men,  and  without  whose  presence,  power,  and  grace, 
no  soul  would  ever  be  led  to.  Christ  or  enter  Heaven — this 
Holy  Spirit  began  His  gracious  work  when  the  covenant  of 
grace  went  into  operation  after  the  fall.  So  He  was  with  the 
Church  and  the  w^orld  before  the  flood.  It  was  this  Holy 
Spirit  sent  down  that  strove  with  the  men  of  that  period  ;  and 
by  them  was  He  grieved,  until  there  was  no  remedy.  As  in 
after  ages,  He  strove  with  the  Church  tlirough  Joseph,  Moses, 
David,  and  all  the  pi-ophets — through  mercies  and  judgments 
many,  and  tlirough  the  Lord  of  Glory  Himself,  Acts  vii.  1-53, 
so  now  the  Holy  Spirit  strove  through  Adam,  Seth,  Enos,  and 
all  the  patriarchs— through  the  prophesying  and  preaching  of 
Enoch  and  I^oah,  and  through  the  ordinances  and  Word  of 
God,  until  the  Lord  set  a  limit  to  His  longsufi'ering,  and  gave 
the  world  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  for  repentance,  that 
He  might  not  destroy  tlie  world  with  a  flood,  1  Pet.  iii.  20. 
Meanwhile,  Noah,  warned  of  God  and  moved  with  fear,  pre- 
pared the  ark  in  the  face  of  the  unbelieving  world,  to  the 
saving  of  his  house,  Heb.  xi.  7.  A  preacher  of  righteousness, 
2  Pet.  ii.  5,  he  preached  both  by  precept  and  example,  while 
the  ark  was  preparing,  in  which  he  was  doubtless  assisted  by 
his  father  Lamech  and  his  grandfather  Methuselah,  for  they 
were  both  alive  when  God  threatened  the  world  with  a  flood, 
and  commanded  the  ark  to  be  built,  1  Pet.  iii.  19-20. 


THE    FLOOD.  121 

But  the  world  continued  eating  and  drinking,  marrying 
and  giving  in  marriage,  insensible  both  to  the  promises  and 
threatenings  of  God,  until  the  day  that  Noah  and  his  family 
and  all  the  livinc:  thino;s  entered  into  the  ark :  Luke  xvii. 
26-27  ;  Matt.  xxiv.  37-38.  Tlien  the  windows  of  heaven  were; 
opened,  and  the  foundations  of  the  great  deep  broken  up,  and 
God  in  awful  majesty,  justice,  and  power,  brought  in  the  flood, 
and  destroyed  them  all !  2  Pet.  iii.  5-6  ;  Job  xii.  15  ;  Ps. 
civ.  5-T. 

As  the  flood  was  a  miracle,  so  was  the  preservation  of 
Noah  and  the  living  beings  with  him  in  tlie  ark  ;  and  after  a 
confinement  of  twelve  months  and  ten  days,  (Gen.  vii.  11-13  ; 
viii.  13-19,)  He  who  had  shut  them  up  commanded  them  to 
go  forth.  The  patriarch's  first  act  was  to  build  an  altar  and 
offer  sacrifice  to  God  "  of  every  clean  beast  and  of  every  clean 
fowl,"  acompanying  the  sacrifices  with  the  exercises  of  faith, 
love,  gratitude,  and  renewed  devotion.  He  was  accepted,  and 
"  the  Lord  said  in  His  heart,  I  will  not  again  curse  the  ground 
any  more  for  man's  sake  ;  neither  will  I  again  smite  any  more 
every  thing  living,  as  I  have  done :  for  the  imagination  of 
man's  heart  is  evil  from  his  youth."  Should  God  contend 
with  him  in  this  sort  for  his  sins,  the  spirits  of  all  flesh  would 
fail  and  be  cut  oft'  from  before  Him  forever  !  But  He  deter- 
mined to  "  keep  the  heavens  and  the  earth  in  store,"  to  re- 
serve them  unto  fire,  against  the  day  of  judgment  and  perdi- 
tion of  ungodly  men,  2  Pet.  iii,  5-12,  having  made  an  ever- 
lasting covenant  with  Noah  and  his  seed  after  him,  and  with 
every  living  thing  on  the  earth,  that  He  would  never  again 
cut  them  off  by  the  water  of  a  flood,  and  sealed  this  covenant 
with  the  token  of  the  rainbow  which  He  set  in  the  cloud. 

The  Old  World  has  perished  !  Before  us  now,  on  Ararat, 
is  the  vacant  ark,  and  the  living  things  are  spreading  them- 
selves again  through  the  air,  and  over  the  earth.  There  is  the 
venerable  patriarch,  with  his  wife  and  his  three  sons  and  their 
wives.  Save  the  spot  on  which  they  stand  worshipping,  the 
whole  earth  is  one  vast  solitude,  attesting  the  justice  and 
power  of  God  ! 

Soon  after  the  creation,  at  the  fall,  the  Church  began  with 


122  THE   HISTOEY    OF  THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

two  members.  In  tlie  second  peopling  of  the  world,  at  the 
flood,  sixteen  hundred  and  fifty-six  years  later,  the  Charch 
began  with  eight  members,  and  these  were  all  that  remained 
of  the  race. 

The  commands  and  blessings  originally  given  to  Adam  are 
renewed  to  IToah  and  his  sons  :  Gen.  i.  27-30  ;  ix.  1-3,  but  to 
the  grant  of  every  fruit-tree  and  green  herb  bearing  seed,  for 
food,  now  is  added  "  every  moving  thing  that  liveth,"  which 
is  the  first  recorded  grant  of  flesh  to  man  for  food.  It  being 
the  fact  in  after  times  that  portions  of  the  sacrifices  were  eaten 
by  the  worshippers,  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  same  law  of 
sacrifices,  and  the  liberty  of  eating  portions  of  the  sacrifices, 
were  allowed  from  the  beginning  (unless  all  the  sacrifices  were 
wliole  burnt  off'erings),  and  that  to  Noah  the  grant  of  flesh  is 
only  enlarged,  he  being  allowed  to  eat  not  only  portions  of  the 
animals  slain  in  sacrifice,  but  all  other  animals  of  suitable  kind 
which  he  might  fancy.  Be  this  as  it  may,  in  the  grant  of  fiesh 
Noah  is  strictly  forbidden  to  eat  the  blood,  which  is  the  life 
thereof;  and  this  prohibition  is  binding  on  the  race.  Gen, 
ix.  4.  It  precedes  the  ceremonial  and  ritual  law  of  Moses  by 
some  hundreds  of  years.  It  is  not  here  given  to  Israelites,  for 
as  yet  they  had  no  existence,  but  to  all  mankind  in  their 
present  representatives,  Noah,  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japheth.  It  is 
therefore  unlawful  for  any  human  being  ever  to  eat  the  blood 
of  animals.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Word  of  God,  from 
Noah  to  Moses,  from  Moses  to  Christ,  Levit.  iii.  17 ;  vii. 
26-27 ;  Dent.  xii.  16-23  ;  Levit.  xvii.  10-14.  It  is  the  doc- 
trine after  the  coming  of  Christ,  for  it  is  repeated  by  the 
Apostles,  and  enjoined  by  them  upon  all  the  churches  as  a 
"  decree,"  Acts  xvi.  20,  29,  and  xvii.  4,  In  that  decree  the 
eating  of  blood  is  not  classed  with  ceremonial  transgressions, 
but  with  such  great  transgressions  of  the  moral  law  as  idolatry 
and  fornication.  Nor  was  the  decree  addressed  to  churclies 
composed  of  Jews  only,  but  of  Gentiles  also.  It  indeed  had  a 
special  reference  to  them  ;  and  was  issued  after  the  passing 
away  of  all  sacrifices  and  ritual  observances.  The  observation 
of  the  Apostle  Paul,  that  "  every  creature  of  God  is  good,  and 
nothing  to  be  refused  if  it  be  received  with  thanksgiving  ;  for 


FLESH   GRANTED — BLOOD   FOKBIDDEN.  123 

it  is  sanctified  by  the  word  of  God  and  prayer,"  1  Tim.  iv. 
4-5,  applies  not  to  the  eating  of  blood  as  one  of  the  creatures 
of  God  (for  it  is  not  in  his  view  here),  but  to  the  doctrine  of 
false  teachers,  who  were  setting  aside  the  plain  commandments 
of  God,  introducing  distinctions  in  food,  and  forbidding  the 
use  of  meats,  which  God  allowed.  He  was  himself  one  of  the 
very  Apostles  who  had  united  in  the  decree,  and  it  cannot  be 
supposed  that  he  would  contradict  himself.  Acts  xv.  1-41 ; 
xvi.  1-4.  And,  moreover,  the  reasons  assigned  for  the  prohi- 
bition always  exist,  and  are  consequently  always  of  force. 

First :  to  eat  the  blood  is  to  eat  the  life  ;  "  for  the  life  of  the 
flesh  is  the  blood,"  and  God  forbids  us  to  eat  that  which  He 
only  gives,  and  sufi'ers  to  be  taken  away.  Life — mysterious 
life — we  are  to  reverence  even  in  animals,  and  acknowledge 
whence  it  comes,  and  to  let  the  blood  out  upon  the  ground 
and  cover  it  with  dust.  It  is  to  be  eaten  neither  in  the  flesh, 
nor  when  separated  from  it,  for  it  is  the  life  of  all  flesh — "  the 
blood  of  it  is  for  the  life  thereof:  therefore  I  said  unto  the 
children  of  Israel,  Ye  shall  eat  the  blood  of  no  manner  of  flesh : 
for  the  life  of  all  flesh  is  the  blood  thereof,"  Levit.  xvii. 
10-14.  To  whatever  results  the  researches  of  men  after  the 
principle  of  life  may  bring  them,  it  is  here  said  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  that  the  life  is  in  the  blood  :  "  the  blood  is  the  life." 
The  vital  force  is  in  that  fluid,  so  mysteriously  elaborated  in 
the  animal  system,  and  so  wonderfully  constituted.  Will  you 
not  be  satisfied  with  the  whole  body  of  the  animal  granted 
you  for  food  ?  Will  you  savagely  covet,  catch  brutally,  and 
eat  its  very  life, — not  suff'ering  it  to  be  poured  out  quietly 
upon  the  earth  before  God  who  gave  it  ? 

Tiie  second  reason  is  no  less  enduring,  and  addresses  itself 
with  peculiar  tenderness  and  power  to  every  guilty  child  of 
Adam.  "  For  the  life  of  the  flesh  is  in  the  blood,  and  I  have 
given  it  to  you  upon  the  altar,  to  make  an  atonement  for  your 
souls :  for  it  is  the  blood  that  maketh  an  atonement  for  the 
soul,"  Levit.  xvii.  10-14.  The  blood— the  life  of  the  sacrificed 
animal— makes  atonement  for  sin,  and  points  unto  and  is  typi- 
cal of  that  blood— that  life  of  the  "  Seed  of  the  woman  "— 
which  should  be  the  true  atonement  for  sin.     This  reason, 


124  THE    HISTOKY    OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

given  long  after  the  days  of  ISToah,  witliont  doubt  was  known 
even  by  Adam  liimself,  whom  God  taught  how  and  why  to 
offer  sacrifices.  The  death  of  Christ  (the  most  amazing  and 
important  event  in  the  history  of  the  world,  and,  we  may  add, 
of  the  universe),  must  be  held  in  remembrance,  in  veneration 
and  gratitude  by  men ;  therefore,  whenever  they  should  shed 
blood — whether  before  or  after  His  coming — the  sight  of  it 
should  brino;  such  remembrances  of  Christ  into  their  minds  as 
would  fill  them  with  awe  and  humility,  totally  indisposing 
them  to  eat  it  as  ordinary  food. 

If  God  regards  the  less,  will  He  not  regard  the  greater  ? 
After  this  prohibition  in  respect  to  the  life  of  animals.  He 
throws  around  man's  life,  his  most  valuable  possession,  the 
greatest  protection,  for  the  strongest  reason  possible. 
"  Surely,  your  blood  of  your  lives  will  I  require  ;  at  the  hand 
of  every  beast  will  I  require  it,  and  at  the  hand  of  man  ;  at  the 
hand  of  every  man's  brother  will  I  require  the  life  of  man. 
Whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall  his  blood  be  shed  : 
foi"  in  the  image  of  God  made  He  man,"  Gen.  ix.  5-6.  God 
alone  has  a  sovereign  right  over  the  life  of  man.  He  alone 
gives  it,  and  He  alone  has  the  right  to  take  it  away.  He 
throws  around  the  most  valuable  possession  the  greatest  pro- 
tection possible.  If  any  man  murder  his  brother,  his  life  is  the 
forfeit;  life  goes  for  life.  What  is  dearer  than  life  ?  "Skin 
for  skin, — yea,  all  that  a  man  hath,  will  he  give  for  his  life." 
No  other  penalty  is  commensurate  with  the  crime,  no  other 
can  afi'ord  the  same  protection  from  cupidity,  lust,  or  revenge. 
Whenever  infidelity  has  attempted  a  substitute,  it  has  proved 
a  failure.  We  cannot  be  wiser  nor  better  than  God.  By  His 
authority  we  put  the  wilful  murderer  to  death,  and  for  the 
strongest  reason  possible  :  "  for  in  the  image  of  God  made  He 
man."  It  is  God  who  created  man  above  the  beasts  of  the 
field  and  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  stamped  His  image  upon 
him.  It  is  His  prerogative  to  give  life,  and  His  alone  to  take 
it  away.  Whosoever,  then,  dares  to  invade  this  prerogative, 
and  blast  in  death  this  child  of  God,  him  shall  God  destroy. 

This  law  is  not  new  ;  it  dates  from  the  earliest  times  of  the 
establishment  of  government  on  earth.     It  existed  when  Cain 


LAW   OF   MUEDEK.  125 

slew  Abel,  and  when  Lamecli  slew  the  young  man  ;  it  reaches 
to  Noah,  and  is  re-enacted  for  all  time  to  come. 

The  existence  of  this  law  is  an  evidence  of  the  existence  of 
hnman  government,  and  that  such  government  is  ordered  of 
God.  All  intelligent  creatures  (with  whom  we  have  to  do), 
from  their  weakness  and  dependence,  mnst  be  under  govern- 
ment :  first,  and  immediately,  and  forever,  under  the  govern- 
ment of  God  ;  and  second,  and  mediately,  under  such  govern- 
ment as  He  ordains.  The  first  government  was  that  of  tlie 
family.  Adam,  by  divine  constitution  and  ordination,  was 
the  head  and  ruler  of  his  family  ;  all  the  power  rested  in  him 
alone — he  made  the  laws,  he  administered,  and  he  enforced 
them.  As  his  posterity  increased,  and  families  multiplied, 
this  patriarchal  form  of  government  would  undergo  many 
modifications  and  changes,  as  the  supreme  power  should  be 
shared  by  other  patriarchs,  or  moulded  by  the  will  of  the 
people.  The  various  forms  of  civil  governments  are  reducible 
to  three :  first,  despotism,  the  powers  of  government  being 
vested  in  one  man ;  second,  aristocracy,  the  powers  being  vested 
in  more  than  one  man  ;  and  third,  democracy,  when  they  are 
primarily  vested  in  the  people,  who  elect  their  rulers,  and 
govern  themselves  representatively — a  pure  democracy  being 
an  impossibility.  What  the  forms  of  government  were  before 
the  flood  cannot  be  ascertained ;  they  proved  powerless  to 
restrain  the  violence  that  filled  the  earth. 

The  law  of  murder,  given  to  Adam  before  Cain  killed 
Abel,  and  of  which  Cain  was  so  afraid,  comprehends  all  the 
rights  and  duties  of  men,  covers  the  whole  ground  of  govern- 
ment, and  is  so  interpreted,  on  the  principle  that  the  greater 
contains  the  less.  When  protection  is  given  to  man's  most 
valued  possession,  life,  that  protection  in  justice  should  extend 
to  every  other  possession,  to  every  other  right  he  has  in  life. 
When  God  vests  the  protection  of  man's  life  in  his  fellow-man, 
He  thereby  ordains  that  men  associate  for  protection  and 
preservation,  adopting  a  form  of  government,  and  assuming  all 
the  necessary  powers  therefor ;  for  there  is  no  power  but  of 
God.  "  The  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God."  Under  all 
forms  of  human  government  the  Church  can  live,  and  to  all 


126  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

governments  it  submits,  so  long  as  they  exist,  Eom.  xiii.  1-7 ; 
1  Pet.  ii.  13-17  ;  Prov.  xxiv.  21. 

On  JS'oab's  coming  out  of  the  ark,  the  use  of  "  the  altar  " 
in  sacrifice  is  mentioned  for  the  first  time,  but  in  such  a  famil- 
iar manner  that  we  are  constrained  to  believe  that  the  altar  is 
coeval  with  the  sacrifice;  and  the  same  God  who  ordained  the 
one  ordained  tlie  other.  Mention  is  made  also  for  the  first 
time  of  "  clean  beast  "  and  of  "  clean  fowl,"  in  distinction  from 
the  unclean,  which  assures  us  that  the  laws  regulating  the 
sacrifices  were  full  and  particular,  and  must  have  been  so  from 
the  beginning. 

ISToah  is  third  upon  the  list  of  "  the  elders  "  who,  by  their 
extraordinary  faith,  "  obtained  a  good  report,"  Heb.  xi.  1-7. 
Because  he  was  a  "just  man  and  perfect  in  his  generation,  and 
walked  with  God,"  Gen.  vi.  9  ;  vii.  1  ;  v.  28-29,  therefore  was 
he  chosen  and  appointed  of  God,  as  the  last  remnant  of  His 
Church,  to  transmit  that  Church,  the  knowledge  of  salvation, 
and  the  race  itself,  to  the  new  world.  Centuries  after  his  death, 
the  Lord  (Ezekiel  xiv.  14)  ranks  him  first  among  three  of  the 
most  eminently  pious  men  that  have  ever  lived  :  "  I^oah, 
Daniel,  and  Job."  The  Apostle  places  him  in  that  cloud  of 
witnesses  which  encompass  the  saints  running  the  race  that  is 
set  before  them,  Heb,  xii.  1. 

The  design  of  the  flood  was  to  glorify  the  justice  of  God  in 
the  irresistible  overthrow  of  an  apostate  Church  and  a  de- 
praved world.  It  was  not  because  God  had  no  power  of  grace, 
and  could  give  no  efficiency  to  means  to  stay  the  progress  of 
universal  corruption,  that  He  was  compelled  to  avenge  Him- 
self upon  His  enemies  by  an  exercise  of  omnipotent  power. 
To  assert  this  would  be  blasphemy.  But  it  was,  as  the  fact 
revealed  it  to  be,  one  of  His  unsearchable  counsels,  to  suffer 
the  world  to  go  on  and  work  out  its  own  inherent  corruption, 
and  to  convince  his  people  that  no  revealed  plan  of  redemp- 
tion— no  amount  of  pure  truth — no  perfection  of  the  means 
of  grace— no  long  line  of  patriarchs  and  witnesses  of  God — no 
mighty  prophets  and  preachers  of  righteousness — no  covenant 
of  love  and  mercy — could  preserve  the  Church  without  His 
constant  upholding  power  and  grace. 


noah's  kko"wxedge  of  god.  127 

The  flood  also  glorified  the  faithfulness  and  mercy  of  God  : 
for  "  the  Lord  knoweth  how  to  deliver  the  godly  out  of  temp- 
tation, and  to  reserve  the  unjust  unto  the  day  of  judgment  to 
be  punished,"  2  Pet.  i.  1-9  ;  i.  4-5. 

Having  pursued  our  way  over  this  long  period  of  1656 
years,  and  seen  the  small  remnant  of  God's  people  delivered  in 
safety  from  the  ark,  it  is  advisable  briefly  to  sum  up  the 
knowledge  of  God  and  the  way  of  salvation  which  was  pos- 
sessed by  the  Church  before  the  flood,  and  which  Noah  was 
now,  as  a  preacher  of  righteousness,  to  transmit  to  those  who 
should  come  after  him. 

1.  What  was  Noah's  knowledge  of  God  ?  Tliat  He  was  a 
Spirit,  infinite,  eternal,  almighty,  holy,  wise,  just,  and  merci- 
ful :  the  creator,  preserver,  and  governor  of  the  universe,  and 
the  saviour  and  judge  of  the  world.  Gen.  i.  1-31  ;  ii.  1-3,  7-1 Y, 
18-24 ;  iii.  2-3,  8-24 ;  iv.  3-16  ;  chs.  vi.,  vii.,  viii.,  ix.  1-17. 
Wliat  was  his  knowledge  of  "  the  Seed  of  the  woman  ?  "  That 
He  existed  at  the  time  of  the  promise  in  a  higher  nature  than 
that  of  man,  which  He  was  in  due  time  to  assume  ;  the  Lord 
in  heaven,  filling  the  exalted  ofiice,  and  performing  the  divine 
work  of  tlie  Redeemer  ;  distinct  in  person  and  ofiice  from  God ; 
shown  in  the  sacrifice  that  He  was  to  be  a  suflering  substitute 
and  surety  for  His  people ;  opposed  and  spoken  against  and 
denied  by  the  ungodly  ;  yet  to  come  with  ten  thousands  of  Llis 
saints  in  the  last  day,  and  judge  the  world,  Jude  vs.  14-15  ; 
Gen.  iii.  15-21  ;  iv.  4  ;  viii.  20-21  ;  2  Pet.  ii.  5  ;  Ileb.  xi.  7, 
13,  39.  The  knowledge  of  the  Spirit  was,  that  He  appeared 
associated  with  God  in  the  day  of  the  creation,  moving  upon 
the  face  of  the  waters,  and  bestowing  life  and  order  tlirough 
the  shapeless  mass,  Gen.  i.  2  ;  that  He  strove  with  the  rebel- 
lious world  and  the  apostate  Church,  Gen.  vi.  3 — by  whom 
Enoch  M^as  inspired  and  prophesied,  and  by  whom  Noah  fore- 
told the  coming  flood,  preaching  that  men  should  repent  and 
escape  the  coming  wrath,  1  Pet.  iii.  18-20 ;  dwelling  in  the 
hearts  of  the  pious,  and  witnessing  with  their  spirits,  that  they 
were  indeed  the  sons  of  God  ,  Gal.  v.  22-25. 

If  Father,  Son,  and  Lloly  Ghost,  are  not  as  clearly  revealed 
before  the  flood  as  in  after  ages,  they  are  sufiiciently  so  for  the 


128  THE   HISTOEY   OF    THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD, 

faith  and  comfort  of  the  Church.  The  Son  of  God  and  the 
Spirit  of  God  did  exercise  their  offices  as  well  before  the  flood 
us  since  that  event ;  otherwise,  salvation  would  not  have  been 
possible.  That  their  existence  would  have  been  revealed  is 
what  was  to  have  been  expected  ;  nor  are  we  disappointed,  for 
they  are  both  spoken  of,  and  in  so  distinct  a  manner  as  to  fix 
the  attention  and  faith  of  the  elect,  Eph.  ii.  18 ;  iii.  12. 

2.  What  was  Noah's  knowledge  of  man  ?  That  he  was 
created  with  a  true  body  and  reasonable  soul :  in  the  image 
of  God,  consisting  in  knowledge,  righteousness,  and  true 
holiness,  and  immortal.  Gen.  i.  2G-2Y — that  God,  uniting  our 
first  parents  in  marriage,  constituted  Adam  the  federal  head 
of  his  race,  and  placed  him  in  his  state  of  innocency  under 
the  covenant  of  works,  giving  him  the  ordinance  of  the  holy 
Sabbath,  Gen.  i.  1-25 — that  he  fell,  and  his  posterity  fell  with 
him,  into  total  depravity  of  nature  and  hopeless  ruin,  under 
the  wrath  and  curse  of  God  :  Gen.  iii.  1-24 ;  iv.  1-26 — and 
that  God  interposed  in  mercy,  and  brought  in  the  promise  of 
redemption  through  the  imputed  righteousness  of  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  "  Seed  of  the  woman,"  as  the  sacrifice  taught  to 
the  eye  of  faith — that  men  became  interested  in  this  salvation 
by  repentance  towards  God  and  faith  in  the  Redeemer  to 
come,  which  saving  faith  was  necessarily  operative  and  purify- 
ing, exhibiting  itself  in  good  works,  as  in  the  noted  examplea 
of  Abel,  Enoch,  and  Noah ;  and  manifesting  the  sons  of 
God  to  be  diff'erent  in  character  and  conduct  from  the 
men  of  the  world.  Gen.  iii.  15,  21  ;  viii.  20  ;  iii.  4  ;  v.  24  ; 
vi.  8-9,  22. 

3.  "What  was  Noah's  knowledge  of  a  future  state  ?  That 
there  was  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments — that  men 
are  happy  or  miserable  immediately  after  death — that  there 
would  be  a  resurrection,  for  the  body  and  the  soul  would  form 
the  perfect  man  in  eternity — and  that  there  would  be  a  final 
judgment.  The  translation  as  well  as  the  prophecy  of  Enoch 
taught  all  this,  without  reference  to  other  proofs.  Gen.  v.  24 ; 
Jude,  vs.  14r-15. 

4.  "What  was  Noah's  knowledge  of  the  angels  ?  From  the 
temptation  and  fall  he  learned,  and  from  the  prophecy  of 


NOAll's    KNOWLEDGE   OF   THE   WAY    OF    SALVATIOi!!.  120 

Enoch,  that  there  were  good  and  evil  angels,  Gen.  iii.  1-15  ; 
Jude,  vs.  14-15. 

5.  Of  the  Church  ?  That  it  Avas  set  up  in  Adam's  family 
after  the  fall,  and  included  all  the  professed  sons  of  God,  be- 
lieving in  the  coming  Redeemer,  and  constituted  one  body, 
Gen.  iv.  1-16  ;  vi.  1-12  ; — that  it  owed  its  origin  to  the  un- 
merited favor  of  God,  through  the  promised  Seed  of  the  wo- 
man, upon  whom  the  Church  was  founded,  and  to  whom  it 
looked  as  its  Lord  and  Head,  Gen.  iii.  15  ;  Jude,  vs.  14-15  ; — 
that  it  had  its  appointed  season  for  worship,  the  sabbath-day. 
Gen.  ii.  1-3  ; — its  ordinances  of  sacrifice  of  clean  beasts,  birds, 
and  fruits  of  the  earth,  offered  upon  altars,  the  blood  making 
atonement  for  sin,  and  not  to  be  eaten  as  an  article  of  food — 
its  officers,  heads  of  families,  patriarchs  officiating  as  priests, 
prophets,  and  preachers  of  righteousness,  Gen.  iii.  21  ;  iv.  1-4  ; 
viii.  20  ;  ix.  3-6  ;  v.  1-32  ;  vi.  1-3  ;  2  Pet.  ii.  5  ;— tljat  dis- 
cipline was  exercised,  as  the  expulsion  of  Cain  intimates, 
iv.  11-16  ; — that  it  was  a  body  in  profession  and  conduct 
distinct  from  the  world.  Gen.  v.  24 ;  vi.  1-6,  and  that  its 
glory  and  perpetuity  depended  upon  its  faith  and  holiness, 
VI.  1-7. 

6.  Of  the  world  ?  That  it  was  depraved,  and  distinct  from 
the  Church,  Gen.  iv.  1-16  ;  vi.  1-Y  ;  opposed  to  the  righteous 
laws  of  God,  and  salvation  by  a  Redeemer,  and,  left  without 
the  grace  of  God,  it  would  wax  worse  and  worse,  and  perish, 
Jude  vs.  14-15 — that  alliances  with  it  would  corrupt  and  ruin 
the  Church,  Gen.  vi.  1-Y — that,  corrupt  as  the  world  and  the 
Church  had  been,  yet  there  was  no  idolatry  known  before  the 
flood — and  that  there  were  civil  governments  existing,  first,  in 
the  family,  then  enlarging  to  the  tribe,  and  then  to  cities  and 
kingdoms.  This  is  inferred  from  the  law  of  murder,  and  also 
from  the  governments  in  families ;  from  the  lawlessness  and 
violence  on  the  earth,  implying  rebellion  against  earthly  as 
well  as  divine  authority. 

Such  is  a  summary  of  the  knowledge  of  God  and  of  the 
way  of  salvation  which  ISToah  possessed,  and  which  he,  as  tlie 
second  progenitor  of  the  world  and  head  of  the  Church,  trans- 
mitted to  succeeding  generations.     The  covenant  of  grace  con- 
9 


130  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

tinucs,  the  Churcli  continues;  the  world,  after  the  flood,  en- 
joys the  light,  and  begins  right  again. 

But,  some  time  after  this  saint  of  God  left  the  ark,  he 
planted  a  vineyard,  and  fell  into  the  sin  of  drunkenness.  The 
Scriptures,  written  with  perfect  truth  and  candor,  accurately 
delineate  the  characters  of  the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  as 
they  have  ever  appeared  in  the  Church  and  the  world.  This 
transgression  of  Noali  (as  well  as  the  transgressions  of  God's 
servants  afterwards  recorded)  is  designed  to  teach  the  lesson 
that  no  perfection,  nor  triumph  of  faith,  nor  advance  in  grace, 
can  insure  victory  to  the  child  of  God  in  time  to  come,  without 
constant  watchfulness,  prayerfulness,  and  the  sustaining  grace 
of  God.  Again,  that  the  existence  of  sin  in  the  heart,  and  its 
ap]3earance  in  the  life,  do  not  prove  a  man  destitute  of  grace  : 
"  there  is  not  a  just  man  that  liveth  and  sinneth  not."  But  it  is 
the  feeling  with  which  he  regards  sin,  both  in  heart  and  life, 
and  the  efforts  that  he  makes  to  be  free  from  it,  that  determine 
his  character,  Ps.  li.  ;  Job  xlii.  6  ;  2  Cor.  vii.  11 ;  Rom.  vii. 
9--25  ;  vi.  1-23.  The  justification  of  the  believer  is  instan- 
taneous and  final,  Rom.  v.  1-10  ;  but  his  sanctification  is  pro- 
gressive unto  perfection — certain  through  all  difficulties,  Rom. 
viii.  1-39  ;  John  x.  27-30  ;  1  Cor.  i.  8-9  ;  Phil.  i.  6,  although 
he  falls,  (not  from  grace,  but  from  the  exercise  of  it,)  he  shall 
rise  again,  Eph.  ii.  8-9.  "  Saved  by  grace,  not  of  works." 
So  it  was  with  Noah, 

The  filial  reverence,  affection,  and  charity  of  Shem  and 
Japheth  are  beautiful  and  affecting,  casting  into  deeper  vileness 
and  blackness  the  conduct  of  Ham,  who  told  the  humiliating 
fact  of  his  father's  drunkenness  and  exposure,  without  sorrow, 
and  without  respect  either  to  his  person  or  character. 

This  occurrence  is  the  occasion  of  Koah's  prophecies  con- 
cerning his  three  sons,  uttered,  not  in  vindictive  wrath  against 
his  offending  son,  but  with  deliberation,  in  his  sober  and  con- 
siderate moments,  and  under  the  inspiration  of  God  ;  for  God 
has  set  His  seal  to  them  in  their  fulfilment.  "Whatever  be  the 
difficulties  in  the  text,  and  the  interpretation  of  this  prophetic 
passage,  we  shall  follow  the  Hebrew,  and  suggest  that  inter- 
pretation which  appears  to  be  most  free  from  objections,  with- 


noah's  pkophecies.  131 

out  entering  into  minute  expositions.  The  prophecies  are  a 
curse  upon  Ham,  and  they  are  blessings  upon  Shem  and 
Japheth.  Ham  is  called  Noah's  "  younger  son,"  Gen.  ix.  24. 
The  word  "  little  "  being  used  comparatively,  as  elsewhere.  This 
agrees  Avith  the  fact,  that  Ham's  name  always  occurs  second 
among  the  brothers.  Gen.  v,  32  ;  vi.  10  ;  vii.  13  ;  ix.  18  ;  x.  1, 
In  cli.  X.  21,  Japheth  is  said  to  be  the  "  elder  "  brother  of  Shem ; 
in  the  original,  "  the  brother  of  Japheth  the  great,"  that  is, 
comparatively  greater  in  age,  elder  born.  A  like  use  of  the 
word  may  be  seen  in  1  Sam.  xvii.  13-11 ;  1  Kings  ii.  22.  Tlie 
order  of  age,  therefore,  of  the  sous  is,  Japheth,  Ham,  Shem, 
and  in  this  order  their  generations  are  recorded  in  Gen.  x. 
1-32  and  1  Chron.  i.  4-17.  The  reason  why  Shem,  the  young- 
est, is  always  placed  first  is,  that  he  is  preferred  before  his 
brethren  by  the  Lord  in  the  line  of  spiritual  descent — in  the 
line  of  promise  descending  to  the  Messiah,  and  occupies  a 
more  conspicuous  and  honorable  station. 

The  sacred  historian  designates  Ham  as  the  father  of 
Canaan,  when  he  comes  out  of  the  ark,  with  the  design,  per- 
haps, of  fixing  the  attention  of  the  Israelites  (for  whom  he 
was  then  preparing  this  record,  and  who  were  then  on  their 
march  through  the  wilderness  to  take  possession  of  the  land  of 
the  Canaanites,)  upon  the  fact  that  the  people  whom  they 
were  about  to  engage  and  extirpate,  were  the  descendants  of 
Ham,  and  were  cursed  of  God  anciently  to  be  servants  to 
them,  and  therefore  they  should  not  be  dismayed,  but  take 
courage  and  fight  manfully.  Be  this  as  it  may,  Noah  uttered 
his  prophecies  not  long  after  the  flood,  and  before  Ham  had 
any  children  ;  at  least,  before  Canaan  was  born,  for  he  is 
placed  fourth  in  the  list  of  his  sons.  Gen.  x.  6.  Noah  addresses 
Shem  and  Japheth  personally  and  individually,  and  we  believe 
he  addresses  Ham  in  the  same  manner.  His  three  sons  were 
then  before  him  to  hear  the  word  of  the  Lord  from  his  mouth. 
True,  they  may  be  cursed  throngh  the  miserable  lot  given  to  a 
future  son,  but  this  interpretation  makes  the  address  to  Ham 
peculiar  and  different  from  that  to  Sbem  and  Japheth.  Be- 
sides, the  curse  and  the  blessings  were  not  to  be  realized  in  the 
persons  of  the  brothers,  but  in  their  posterity.     The  blessings 


132  THE   HISTOET   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

of  Shem  and  Japhetli  covered  all  their  posterity — to  be  parallel, 
the  curse  of  Ham  should  cover  all ;  otherwise,  a  large  portion 
of  his  posterity  is  neither  cursed  nor  blessed.  Again,  the  ful- 
iilinent  ought  to  determine  the  extent  of  the  prophecies,  and 
they  have  been  most  remarkably  fulfilled  in  the  entire  pos- 
terity of  all  the  brothers.  These  considerations  deserve  some 
weight  in  determining  the  meaning  of  the  words,  "  Cursed  be 
Canaan  !  "  The  reading  is  also  peculiar  :  "  And  Noah  awoke 
from  his  wine,  and  knew  what  his  younger  son  had  done  unto 
him,  and  he  said.  Cursed  be  Canaan !  "  So  he  cursed  his 
younger  son,  the  father  of  Canaan,  under  the  name  of  Canaan. 
And  our  conclusion  is,  that  the  name  of  the  son  is  put  for  that 
of  the  ftither — in  other  words.  Ham  is  cursed  to  be  a  servant 
of  servants,  and  to  be  the  servant  of  Shem  and  Japheth  under 
the  name  of  Canaan.  The  phraseology  of  Scripture,  "  a  serv- 
ant of  servants,"  means  the  lowest  and  most  perfect  of  ser- 
vants. The  prophecy  lias  been  fulfilled  in  the  destruction  and 
final  subjugation  and  enslavement  of  the  Canaanites,  by  the 
descendants  of  Shem,  the  children  of  Israel ;  in  the  subjugation 
and  enslavement  of  the  Phcenicians  and  Carthagenians  by  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  the  descendants  of  Japheth  ;  in  the  subju- 
gation of  the  Egyptians  and  Ethioj)ians ;  in  the  enslavement 
of  Africans  in  almost  all  ages  of  the  World,  even  down  to  the 
present  day,  and  their  miserable  enslavement  of  each  other. 
The  prophecy  lays  the  curse  upon  Ham,  and  leaves  it  there. 
There  appears  to  be  no  day  to  this  night. 

The  innocency  or  guilt  of  the  posterity  of  Shem  and 
Japheth,  who  from  age  to  age  have  been  "  gathered  together, 
for  to  do  whatsoever  God's  hand  and  God's  counsel  determined 
before  to  be  done,"  against  their  brethren  of  Ham,  must  bo 
measured  by  the  revealed  law  of  God  which  defines  our  duties 
towards  each  other,  and  that  law  applied  in  all  cases,  with  a 
due  consideration  of  the  circumstances. 

"  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Shem."  To  have  Jehovah 
for  his  God  implies  a  plenitude  of  blessings  upon  the  head  of 
Shem ;  therefore,  let  the  God  of  Shem  be  blessed.  This 
prophecy  was  fulfilled  in  the  aj)pointment  of  Shem  to  be,  after 
Noah,  the  next  in  the  line  of  promise,  the  progenitor  of  our 


DISPERSION    OF   NOAh's    POSTERITY.  133 

Lord.  From  him  sprang  the  children  of  Eber,  out  of  whom 
God  called  and  constituted  his  visible  Church  ;  and  thus  the 
spiritual  blessings  of  God  were  for  many  centuries  confined  to 
Shem,  and,  finally,  after  the  advent  of  Christ,  flowed  through 
him  to  all  the  Gentile  nations,  the  rest  of  his  own  descendants, 
and  those  of  his  brethren.  "  And  Canaan  shall  be  his 
servant."     . 

"  God  shall  enlarge  Japheth,  and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  tents 
of  Shem,"  was  fulfilled  in  spreading  himself  north  and  west, 
over  Europe,  Asia,  and  the  isles  of  the  sea  ;  and  in  his  dwell- 
ing in  the  tents  of  Shem,  by  holding  friendly  and  intimate 
relations  with  him,  receiving  from  him  the  spiritual  mercies 
of  God,  becoming  one  in  brotherhood,  and  dwelling  in  love  in 
the  same  tents.  He  came  with  his  Gentile  nations  to  the 
brightness  of  the  rising  of  Shem.  "  And  Canaan  shall  be  his 
servant." 

These  are  the  last  words  of  Noah.  His  history  ends  like 
that  of  Jacob,  in  predictions  concerning  his  sons.  He  lived 
three  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  flood.  The  head  of  the 
new  Avorld,  the  pastor  and  preacher  of  the  Church  of  God,  he 
died  aged  nine  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

The  Lord  commanded  Noah  and  his  sons  to  "  be  fruitful  and 
multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth,"  Gen.  ix.  10,  for  "  the  earth 
hath  He  given  to  the  children  of  men,"  Ps.  cxv.  16  ;  Jer.  xxvii. 
5.  But  in  direct  rebellion,  being  of  one  language,  speech,  and 
descent,  they  came  to  the  resolution  to  build  a  city,  and  a 
tower  whose  top  might  reach  to  heaven,  and  fix  permanently 
the  seat  of  their  empire,  that  they  might  not  be  scattered 
abroad  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  Gen.  xi.  1-9.  They  meas- 
ure their  strength  with  God ;  but  with  infinite  ease,  and  in  a 
manner  most  merciful  to  the  transgressors.  He  compelled  them 
to  execute  His  purpose,  by  simply  confounding  their  language. 
The  original  tongue  brought  from  the  old  world  was  oblitera- 
ted from  the  minds  of  the  multitude,  except  such  of  them  as 
God  designed  should  retain  it,  while  the  rest  w-ere  given  to 
speak  new  languages,  and  diverse  the  one  from  the  other ; 
harmonious  communication  was  stopped  ;  their  strength  in 
union  was  broken,  and  their  purpose  fell  to  the  ground.      The 


134  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUECH    OF   GOD. 

location  of  tliese  different  languages,  wliicli  afterwards  charac- 
terized nations,  or  tlic  division  of  the  world  among  them,  was 
the  act  of  God. 

According  to  Deut.  xxxii.  7-8,  "  When  the  Most  High 
divided  to  the  nations  their  inheritance,  when  He  separated 
the  sons  of  Adam,  He  set  the  hounds  of  the  people  according 
to  the  number  of  the  children  of  Israel."  Moses  assures  the 
jieople  of  God  of  His  perpetual  favor,  and  strengthens  their 
confidence  by  affirming  that  when  He  originally  divided 
to  the  nations  their  inheritance,  even  then,  in  that  distant  age, 
He  looked  forward,  and  set  bounds  which  should  afterwards 
be  occupied  by,  and  be  sufiicient  for  His  chosen  people,  the 
people  of  Israel.  In  a  like  sense  we  understand  Gen.  xi.  9. 
Therefore,  is  the  name  of  it  called  Babel,  or  confusion,  "  be- 
cause the  Lord  did  there  confound  the  language  of  all  the 
earth ;  and  from  thence  did  -the  Lord  scatter  them  abroad 
upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth."  He  scattered  them  in  their 
unresisting  feebleness  by  His  almighty  power,  yet  with  design, 
into  those  territories  foreordained  for  them.  Comp.  Jer.  xxvii. 
5  ;  Acts  xvii.  26  ;  Fs.  cxv.  16  ;  Gen.  xv.  16-21 ;  Dan.  iv. 
17,  32. 

This  remarkable  event  took  place  one  hundred  years  after 
the  flood,  during  the  life  of  Peleg,  the  son  of  Eber,  Gen.  xi.  16  ; 
for,  in  the  genealogy  of  Gen.  x.  1-25,  it  is  said,  "  and  unto  Eber 
were  born  two  sons  ;  the  name  of  the  one  was  Peleg,"  which 
signifies  "  division,"  "  because  in  his  days  the  earth  was 
divided."     This  occurs  again  in  1  Chron.  i.  1-19,  etc. 

The  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis  anticipates,  in  order  of  time, 
the  eleventh.  The  eleventh  acquaints  us  with  the  purpose  of 
the  descendants  of  Noah  to  remain  together,  and  to  build 
their  city  and  tower ;  then  ^y  what  power  their  purpose  was 
defeated,  and  themselves  scattered  abroad  upon  the  face  of  all 
the  earth.     The  tenth  shows  where  they  were  scattered. 


THE   GIFT   OF   TONGUES — HEBREW   AS   OLD   AS   ANY.         135 


CHAPTEE    XII. 

THE  GIFT  OF  TONGUES ;  HEBEEW  AS  OLD  AS  AJSY. — LOSS  OP  THE  KNOWL- 
EDGE OF  GOD,  THE  CONSEQUENCE  OF  HUTMAN  DEPRAVITY.  —  THE 
KNOWLEDGE  OF  GOD  FEOM  ORIGINAL  REVELATION. — HISTORY  NOW 
RUNS  IN  THE  LINE  OF  SHEM. — RISE  OF  IDOLATRY. — THE  PLAGUE  OF 
THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  WORLD  TO  BE  DESTROYED. — HUilAN  LIFE 
SHORTENED. — JOB  A  PROPHET  ;  AGE  IN  WHICH  HE  LIVED. — HIS  BOOK, 
ITS  VALUE,  ITS  MORAL  DOCTRINES. — JOB's  RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER. — 
EXISTENCE   OP   IDOLATRY,   AND   ART   OP   WRITING   IN   HIS   DAY. 

The  coDfounding  of  the  language  of  all  the  earth  and  the 
ijift  of  other  lano-iiao-es  were  a  miracle.  All  oriijinal  lanjruages 
are  the  gift  of  God.  Men  do  not  create  languages  ;  they  are 
taught  them.  Even  dialects  and  mixed  languages  are  not  of 
men,  but  are  the  result  of  a  commingling  of  originally  distinct 
tongues  which  have  come  in  contact.  As  men  borrow  man- 
ners and  histories,  so  they  borrow  languages  from  each  other. 
When  God  dispersed  the  jDosterity  of  Noah  to  fill  the  earth, 
He  poured  out  upon  them  the  gift  of  tongues  ;  and  when,  ages 
after.  His  great  salvation  was  to  be  carried  nuto  all  these  dis- 
persed nations.  He  commissioned  His  apostles  and  ministers, 
and  poured  out  upon  them  the  gift  of  tongues  for  this  pui-posj 
— not  new  tongues,  but  tongues  already  in  the  world,  but 
heretofore  unknown  to  them. 

The  number  of  languages  given  at  Babel  is  unknown. 
Learned  men,  in  these  latter  days,  have  reduced  the  various 
languages  of  earth  to  a  comparatively  few  families  of  lan- 
guages, and  these  so  strikingly  resemble  each  other,  and  have 
so  much  in  common ;  that  the  conclusion  is  reached  that  the v 


136  THE   HISTOKT   OF   THE   CHUECU   OF    GOD. 

are  all  sisters,  and  spring  from  one  mother  tongue,  and  were 
separated  by  some  irresistible  and  supernatural  stroke — a  con- 
clusion confirming  the  truth  of  the  Word  of  God,  that  at 
Babel  the  language  of  all  the  earth  was  confounded,  and  thence 
the  Lord  scattered  abroad  the  people. 

The  question,  which  of  the  languages  of  Babel,  or  how 
many  of  them  IToali  and  his  sons  brought  from  the  old  world, 
is  more  curious  than  useful.  We  suppose  they  brought  sev- 
eral. Sufficient  is  it  for  the  Church  to  know,  that  the  Hebrew 
language,  in  M'hicli  it  has  pleased  God  to  convey  His  inspired 
truth  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  which  consequently  must 
remain  to  the  end  of  the  world  one  of  the  two  sacred  and  in- 
spired languages,  passes  up  through  many  generations  to 
Eber,  the  father  of  "  Peleg,  in  whose  days  the  earth  was 
divided  ;  "  and  if  the  language  does  not  date  beyond  the  con- 
fusion of  tongues,  it  was  certainly  given  at  that  time,  and  is 
therefore  as  old  as  any  other  language  that  we  know  of. 

The  loss  of  the  true  knowledge  of  God  and  the  way  of  sal- 
vation, which  Noah  and  his  sons  transmitted  to  their  posterity, 
and  which  became  in  after  ages  so  universal,  and  which  is 
equally  so  in  our  day,  is  to  be  attributed  to  human  depravity, 
as  the  Apostle  Paul  affirms,  writing  of  the  moral  state  of  the 
Gentiles,  ''  when  they  knew  not  God,  they  glorified  Him  not 
as  God,"  but  substituted  idols  in  His  room  ;  and,  as  they  did 
not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  God  gave  them  up 
in  just  judgment  to  a  reprobate  mind,  and  the  vilest  afl'ections. 
When,  therefore,  we  shall  hereafter  see  the  visible  Church 
chosen  out,  set  up,  and  confined  for  centuries  to  one  people, 
we  are  not  to  consider  that  God  is  dealing  unjustly  with  the 
rest  of  mankind,  but  rather  that  they  who  are  living  estranged 
from  Him  are  justly  receiving  in  themselves  the  rewards  of 
their  own  works ;  and  that  while  He  confines  His  special 
mercy,  for  the  time  being,  to  so  small  a  portion,  we  are  to 
acknowledge  it  as  an  act  of  His  sovereignty,  wJiich,  however 
beyond  our  comprehension,  can  be  but  wise  and  good,  redound- 
ing to  His  glory.  "  Even  so,  Father,  for  so  it  seemed  good  in 
Thy  sight."    Matt.  xi.  26  ;  Eom.  xi.  30-36. 

The  world  owes  what  knowledge  of  God  and  of  religion  it 


KNOWLEDGE   OF    GOD   FROM   ORIGINAL   REVELATION.  137 

possesses,  be  it  miicli  or  little,  pure  or  adulterated,  to  the 
original  revelation,  communicated  in  the  first  instance  to  our 
first  parents,  and  afterwards,  "  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers 
manners,"  to  God's  people.  By  them,  as  the  light  of  the 
world,  it  has  been  diffused  among  all  nations,  and  they  in 
turn  have  transmitted  it  from  father  to  son.  Tlie  original 
ideas  of  God,  of  His  worship,  of  sacred  times  and  institutions, 
once  communicated,  remain  fixed  in  the  mind  and  flow  down 
from  age  to  age.  No  nation  has  ever  reasoned  out,  inde- 
pendently of  written  revelation,  or  of  traditionary  knowledge, 
its  own  religion  ;  for  no  nation  has  ever  been  placed  in  circum- 
stances to  make  the  attempt,  and  never  will  be. 

The  works  and  ways  of  God  do  clearly  make  known  His 
eternal  power  and  Godhead  ;  but  the  fact  that  there  is  a  God, 
and  that  He  is  to  be  worshipped,  comes  to  the  mind  of  man 
before  he  is  capable  of  reasoning ;  he  drinks  it  in  with  his 
mother's  milk.  To  the  question,  what  regard  is  to  be  paid  to 
the  religious  traditions  of  the  heathen,  it  may  be  replied,  that 
they  are  to  be  received  or  rejected  as  they  agree  or  disagree 
with  the  standard  of  all  religions  truth — the  Holy  Word  of 
God. 

According  to  the  Hebrew  computation,  the  dispersion  took 
place  one  hundred  years  after  the  flood,  A.  M.  1757.  From 
this  event  onward.  Ham,  Japheth,  and  a  majority  of  Shem's 
descendants  are  dropped  from  the  Bible,  and  are  noticed  from 
time  to  time  afterwards  only  as  they  become  connected  with 
so  nmcli  of  the  posterity  of  Shem  as  constitute  the  true  people 
of  God — the  Church  of  God — whose  history  is  carefully  car- 
ried on,  and  which  we  are  now  to  follow. 

The  next  line  of  spiritual  succession  flows  from  Shem, 
through  Arphaxad,  Salah,  Eber,  Peleg,  Reu,  Serug,  Nahor, 
Terah,  down  to  Abram,  Gen.  xi.  10-26  ;  Luke  iii.  34-36  ; 
Matt.  i.  1,  and  keeps  our  Lord  in  the  eye  and  faith  of  the 
Church,  reaching  down  three  hundred  and  forty-two  years 
after  the  flood  to  A.  M.,  2008,  the  year  in  which  Abraham 
was  born.  Noah  lived  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the 
flood.  Terah,  Abram's  father,  was  contemporary  M'ith  Noah  ; 
so  that  there  was  but  one  step  between  Abram  and  Noah  ; 


138  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHDECH   OF    GOD. 

and  witli  ease  and  certainty  could  all  Noali's  knowledge  of 
God  and  religion  be  transmitted  to  Abraham,  admitting  there 
were  no  written  documents  for  the  purpose,  Gen.  xi.  32  ;  xii. 
1-4  ;  Acts  vii.  4.  Yery  few  but  remarkable  are  the  events  of 
these  three  centuries  and  a  half;  the  reestablishment  of  the 
Church,  and  the  repeopling  of  the  world ;  the  prophecies  of 
Noah,  which  epitomize  its  history  in  all  after  time;  the  dis- 
persion and  gift  of  languages  ;  the  continuance  of  the  Church, 
seen  in  the  succession  of  the  progenitors  of  our  Lord  ;  and 
another  dreadful  declension,  evidently  the  rise  of  idolatry, — 
these  are  the  events  ;  few,  but  all-comprehensive,  suggestive, 
far-reaching,  all-sufficient ;  the  record  of  God. 

That  idolatry  took  its  rise  some  two  hundred  years  after  the 
flood,  during  the  lifetime  of  Serug,  who  was  contemporary 
with  Noah  and  his  sons,  both  Joshua  and  Job  testify.  Says 
Joshua,  in  his  farewell  address  to  Israel,  "  Your  fathers  dwelt 
on  tlie  other  side  of  the  flood,"  (the  river  Euphrates,  so  called 
by  way  of  eminence,)  "  m  old  times,  even  Terah,  the  father  of 
Abraham,  and "  (Serug)  "  the  father  of  Nahor,  and  they 
served  other  gods."  But  they  were  afterwards  converted  to 
the  living  and  true  God,  Gen.  xxxi,  53.  Job,  who  was  contem- 
porary with  Serug,  also  mentions  idolaters  in  his  book,  xxxi. 
26-28.  After  the  introduction  of  idolatry,  in  a  few  brief  cen- 
turies it  overspreads  the  world.  When  Abraham  appears,  all 
the  surrounding  nations  seem  to  be  given  up  to  it. 

Idolatry  is  the  consecration  and  obedient  submission  of  the 
soul  to  other  objects  than  God,  and  in  opposition  to  Him, 
manifesting  itself  outwardly  as  a  religion  in  the  worship  of 
created  objects,  animate  and  inanimate — of  graven  images  or 
likenesses  of  feigned  gods,  Exod.  xx.  1-6  ;  Eph.  v.  3-5  ;  Col. 
iii.  5.  It  is  to  no  useful  purpose  that  men  invent  fanciful 
theories,  which  they  dignify  with  the  name  of  philosophy,  to 
account  for  the  origin  of  idolatry.  It  is  the  offspring  of  hu- 
man depravity,  and  if  any  one  wishes  to  understand  the  proc- 
ess, from  the  iirst  act  of  rebellion  against  God  to  the  flnal 
consummation,  let  him  devote  himself  to  the  study  of  the  first 
chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Komans. 

Flowing  in  the  channel  of  depraved  nature,  it  has  in  its 


RISE   OF   IDOLATKT.  139 

progress  subsidized  tlie  imagination,  the  taste,  the  intellect, 
the  passions,  the  hopes,  the  fears,  the  interests  of  mankind, 
and  allied  itself  to  antiquity  and  custom,  to  ignorance  and 
fraud,  to  violence,  oppression,  superstition,  and  power.  From 
its  first  introduction  it  has  been  the  plague  of  the  Chui-ch. 
Abraham  was  surrounded  by  idolaters  ;  Rachel  stole  and  bore 
off  the  idols  of  her  father  Laban,  Gen.  xxi.  19-32.  Idols  were 
worshipped  in  Israel's  household.  Gen.  xxxv.  1-4,  and  by  the 
people  of  God  while  in  bondage  in  Egypt.  They  even  carried 
them  with  them  through  the  wilderness,  under  the  pillar  of 
cloud  and  of  fire,  and  before  the  face  of  Sinai  itself!  Amos  v, 
25-26  ;  Acts  vii.  39,  43.  Idols  were  a  snare  to  Israel  during 
the  period  of  the  Judges ;  and  what  declension  took  place 
under  Samuel  and  the  Kings !  Ten  tribes  almost  wholly 
apostatized  into  idolatry.  The  terrible  captivity  of  Assyria 
and  of  Babylon  were  the  final  judgments  of  God  for  the  idola- 
tries and  accompan3dng  transgressions  of  His  people,  that  they 
might  be  purged  of  that  leaven.  Yet  the  Church  contended 
with  this  plague  after  the  captivity,  and  successfully  resisted 
its  introduction  under  the  Maccabees,  in  one  of  the  most  bril- 
liant struggles  against  power  and  persecution  that  the  world 
ever  witnessed.  So  soon  as  the  apostles  gathered  churches 
among  the  heathen,  their  wisdom  and  authority  were  called  in 
requisition  to  prevent  the  encroachments  of  idolatry.  Even 
in  their  day  the  mystery  of  iniquity  began  to  work,  and  after 
their  departure  it  came  on  apace — first,  in  the  idolatrous  ven- 
eration of  sacred  places  and  relics ;  then,  in  rendering  some 
sort  of  worship  to  apostles,  martyrs,  and  saints  and  angels. 
Finally,  the  churches  were  adorned  with  pictures  and  statuarj' 
of  our  Lord,  the  apostles,  the  virgin  Mary,  and  others,  which 
gave  rise  to  violent  and  lonc:-continued  contentions  in  the  then 
acknowledged  Christian  world,  and  wdiich  settled  down  in  the 
allowed  use  of  pictures  in  the  Eastern  or  Greek  Church,  and 
of  both  pictures  and  statuary  in  the  Western  or  Latin  Church, 
making  both  communions  the  resting-places  of  idolatry. 

The  true  people  of  God  have  always  protested  against 
idolatry,  and  its  accompanying  abominations  of  doctrines  and 
discipline.     In  the  reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century,  God 


140  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   CHUECH   OF    GOD. 

called  them  out,  and  delivered  them  from  the  chains  of  super- 
stition, ignorance,  and  idolatry,  in  which  the  nominally  Chris- 
tian world  lay  bound,  establishing  them  in  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus,  which  they  still  maintain,  under  which  they  flourish, 
and  before  which  the  apostate  idol  churches  are  waning,  al- 
though slowly  and  with  determined  resistance.  Yet  "  shall 
the  Lord  consume  them  with  the  spirit  of  His  mouth,  and 
shall  destroy  them  with  the  brightness  of  His  coming,"  2 
Thess.  ii.  8. 

In  the  first  and  second  commandments,  the  Lord  proclaims 
Himself  the  only  supreme  God,  and  condemns  with  eternal 
vengeance  idolatry  in  every  form.  All  the  Scriptures  testify 
against  the  impiety,  and  God,  who  is  jealous,  and  will  not  give 
His  glory  to  another,  communicates  the  condition  of  the  mil- 
lions who  worship  idols.  He  has  promised  Christ  Jesus  that 
"  He  shall  have  the  heathen  for  His  inheritance  and  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth  for  a  possession."  Just  as  He  was 
about  to  ascend,  our  Lord  commissioned  His  Church  to  "  go 
into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature." 
Therefore  "many  run  to  and  fro,"  "for  the  earth  shall  be 
filled  with  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  the  Lord  as  the 
waters  cover  the  sea,"  Dan.  xii.  4  ;  Lleb.  ii.  14. 

Noah  and  his  three  sons  were  the  last  of  the  aged  patriarchs. 
From  Arphaxad,  the  son  of  Shem,  to  Peleg,  human  life  was 
shortened  one  lialf,  from  nine  hundred  years  to  four  hundred 
and  over.  From  Peleg  to  Terah  it  was  again  shortened  one 
half,  from  four  hundred  to  two  hundred.  From  Abraham  to 
David  it  gradually  diminished  to  seventy  years,  with  rare  ex- 
ceptions of  its  reaching  and  going  beyond  one  hundred,  Gen. 
xi.  10-32.  This  shortening  of  human  life  must  be  resolved 
into  the  sovereign  will  of  God  ;  all  attempts  to  account  for  it  in 
any  other  manner  are  mere  imaginations,  and  without  value. 

In  this  period,  between  the  flood  and  Abraham,  lived  a 
patriarch,  not  registered  in  the  line  of  spiritual  descent  in  Gen. 
xi.  10-26— the  patriarch  Job.  His  book  lives  in  the  sacred 
canon,  and  is  of  inestimable  value  in  the  history  of  the  Church. 
It  is  considered,  perhaps,  the  oldest  of  the  inspired  writings, 
and  seems  to  have  been  composed  and  preserved  with  the  ex- 


JOB   A   PEOPHET.  141 

press  design  of  unfolding  to  all  succeeding  ages  what  was  the 
amount  of  religious  knowledge — what  was  the  perfection  of 
religious  character — and  what  was  the  private  and  public  walk 
of  the  sons  of  God — what  was  the  association  which  they  held 
with  each  other,  and  with  the  people  of  the  world,  in  these 
early  times,  covered  with  the  mists  of  far-distant  ages.  It  sets 
the  men  of  God  before  us,  living,  moving,  and  having  their 
being  in  the  Church  and  the  world,  just  as  they  do  now.  The 
world  of  the  patriarchs  is  made  bare  to  our  eye.  Christians 
appear  in  life  in  all  the  Kew  Testament,  and  then  in  the  Old, 
running  back  from  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  through  prophets, 
priests,  and  kings,  up  to  the  judges,  to  Moses,  and  Aaron,  and 
Miriam — to  the  twelve  patriarchs — to  Jacob,  Isaac,  Abram, 
and  finally  to  Noah,  and  Job,  and  Enoch  :  thus  making  known 
the  same  God,  the  same  Saviour,  the  same  Spirit,  the  same 
faith,  the  same  practice — the  same  blessed  covenant  of  grace, 
working  its  mercies  in  the  Church  and  in  the  world  even  from 
the  beginning. 

The  character  of  Job  is,  beyond  all  the  patriarchs  previous 
to  the  time  of  Abraham,  drawn  out  in  the  greatest  miimteness 
and  force,  and  serves  as  an  example  and  illustration  of  all  the 
rest.  He  who  reads  Job  reads  of  all  the  early  saints  of  God  in 
him.  With  what  delight  then  do  we  open  this  ancient  book 
— this  book  that  speaks  to  us  of  those  early  ages,  otherwise 
needing  light  and  illustration  drawn  from  the  men  that  lived  in 
them  !  Well  has  the  book  of  Job  been  called  a  "  depository 
of  patriarchal  religion."  Not  that  the  religion  of  the  patriarchs 
differed  in  faith  and  substance  from  the  religion  of  prophets 
and  apostles,  for  it  was  the  same,  but  because  tin's  book  shows 
as  that  it  loas  the  same,  and  makes  the  Word  of  God  one  har- 
monious whole  :  one  continuous  revelation  and  development 
of  the  covenant  of  grace. 

Job  was  an  ins])ired  j^'i'ophct  of  God :  reckoned  by  God 
worthy  of  a  place  with  Noah  and  Daniel,  Ezek.  xiv.  14-20  ; 
and  to  be  named  as  an  example  of  patience  to  the  Church, 
James  v.  11.  So  far  as  the  testimony  of  the  Word  of  God 
goes,  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  his  book  was  written 
by  any  other  than  Joh  himself :    the  few  words  recording  his 


142  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

death  were  added  of  course  by  some  other  hand.  No  book 
admitted  into  the  Bible  is  written  by  any  but  inspired  men. 

He  was  an  inhabitant  of  the  land  of  Uz  :  that  portion  of 
country  no  doubt  first  occupied  by  Uz,  the  son  of  Aram,  Gen. 
X.  23.  We  have  no  record  to  guide  us  in  fixing  the  position 
of  the  land  of  Uz  but  the  Bible.  And  in  three  places  only  is 
the  land  of  Uz  spoken  of  Here  in  the  book  of  Job,  i.  1  ; 
aj^ain  in  Jer.  xxv.  20,  in  immediate  connection  with  Egypt  on 
the  one  hand  and  Philistia  on  the  other.  It  must  have  been 
of  some  extent,  as  Jeremiah  says,  "And  all  the  kings  of  the 
land  of  Uz,"  and,  again,  Jeremiah  in  Lam.  iv.  21,  "  Rejoice 
and  be  glad,  O  daughter  of  Edom,  that  dwelleth  in  the  land 
of  Uz."  Uz  originally  included  Edom.  How  far  eastward 
into  Arabia  it  extended,  is  not  said.  None  of  the  boundaries 
of  the  land  are  given.  It  lay  southward  of  and  inclusive  of 
Edom,  extending  eastward.  Hence  Job  is  called  one  of  "  the 
sons  of  the  East."  How  far  east  it  extended,  and  how  near 
Chaldea,  we  do  not  know. 

-Job  lived  after  his  afflictions  one  hundred  and  forty  years, 
and  then  died  old  and  full  of  days,  xlii.  16-17.  How  old  he 
was  when  they  fell  upon  him,  is  not  revealed  ;  but  from  the 
fact  that  lie  was  the  father  of  seven  sons  and  three  daughters 
— that  he  was  in  his  possessions  "  the  greatest  of  all  the  sons 
of  the  East  " — and  was  a  man  highly  honored,  and  of  note  and 
fame — he  could  not  have  been  less  than  seventy  years  of  age. 
This  \vould  make  him  at  the  time  of  his  death  two  hundred 
and  ten  years  old  ;  which  age  throws  him  fully  up  to  the  time 
of  Abraham,  who  lived  but  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
years,  Gen.  xxv.  Y-8,  and  it  is  said  "  he  died  in  a  good  old  age 
— an  old  man  and  full  of  years  :  "  nay,  it  throws  Job  beyond 
Abraham,  and  beyond  Nahor,  Abraham's  grandfather,  who 
lived  only  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  years,  even  to  the 
times  of  Serug,  the  father  of  Nahor,  who  lived  two  hundred 
and  thirty  years,  Gen.  xi.  22-25.  The  age  of  Job  is  an  im- 
portant consideration  in  fixing  the  period  in  which  he  lived. 
He  was  at  least  contemporary  with  Abraham  ;  most  probably 
before  him,  as  he  makes  no  mention  of  Abraham,  nor  any  of 
the  circumstances  of  his  life,  nor  of  the  destruction  of  Sodom 


DOCTRINES   OF   THE   BOOK   OF   JOB.  143 

and  Gomorrah.  He  lived  before  the  Church  of  God  -went  into 
captivity  in  Egypt,  and  before  its  deliverance  and  settlement 
in  Canaan  ;  for  in  all  the  book  of  Job  there  is  no  conclusive 
mention  of  any  of  these  facts,  nor  of  God's  wonders  in  Egypt, 
and  in  the  desert,  and  in  the  Promised  Land,  and  no  reference 
to  any  of  the  institutions,  rites,  ceremonies,  or  officers  of  the 
Church.     His  book  belongs  to  a  period  anterior  to  this. 

We  have  indulged  in  these  remarks  upon  this  interesting 
book  for  the  purj)ose  of  directing  attention  to  its  antiquity, 
which  makes  it,  aside  from  many  other  considerations,  of  so 
great  value  in  the  histor}'  of  the  Church. 

Although  so  old  a  book,  (and  the  great  body  of  it  ispoefri/,) 
it  is  not  exceeded  by  any  in  the  Scriptures  in  the  purity  of  its 
language,  in  the  simplicity,  the  force,  and  point  of  its  style ; 
in  the  closeness  of  its  reasonings  ;  the  variety  and  magnificence 
of  its  imagery ;  the  grandeur  of  its  conceptions  and  descrip- 
tions ;  nor  in  its  depth  of  pathos  and  fervor  of  piety.  It  foi'- 
ever  shames  into  silence  the  presumjjtuous  folly  of  men,  who, 
with  a  boast  of  learning,  and  full  of  an  overweening  self- 
sufficiency,  pretend  to  speak  of  the  ag&s  in  which  the  patri- 
archs lived  as  the  infancy  of  the  Church  and  of  the  world, 
who  are  forever  prating  of  progress  and  development,  and  fas- 
tening upon  the  Scriptures  their  heartless,  Christless,  and  God- 
less theories  of  religion  and  of  the  Church. 

The  moral  of  the  book — aside  from  its  being  a  depository 
of  patriarchal  religion,  and  filling  up  a  chasm  otherwise  left 
open — is  to  teach,  that  God  sometimes  permits  the  best  of  men, 
the  most  upright  and  perfect  of  His  children,  to  be  led  into 
afflictions,  temptations,  and  trials,  for  the  manifestation  of  their 
characters,  and  for  the  illustration  of  the  power  of  His  grace, 
and  of  His  own  unfailing  faithfulness — that  this  world  is  one 
of  trial,  and  not  a  world  in  which  perfect  retributions  are  meted 
out  to  the  evil  and  the  good  :  nor  are  the  reasons  of  the  afflic- 
tions of  God  always  immediately  or  certainly  known — that  all 
God's  dispensations  and  the  mysteries  of  His  government  will 
be  fully  explained  to  His  glory  in  the  world  to  come  ;  and, 
therefore,  we  are  to  judge  nothing  before  the  time  ;  but,  stead- 
fast in  the  faith,  exercise  submission  and  patience,  looking  for- 


144  THE   HISTOKY    OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

ward  to  final  redemjotion  and  glory  through  Him  who  is  the 
promised  Eedeemer  of  His  people. 

The  main  objects  of  inquiry  are,  first,  the  doctrines  of  re- 
ligion contained  in  the  book  of  Job  ;  his  own  religious  charac- 
ter^ and  the  light  which  is  thereby  thrown  on  the  religious  in- 
telligence and  j>iety  of  the  times  in  tchich  he  lived. 

Of  the  doctrines^  we  observe  that  Job  teaches  of  God 
that  He  is  a  Spirit,  invisible,  ix.  11 ;  xxiii.  8-9 — tlie  only 
true  God,  and  proper  object  of  all  religious  homage  and  wor- 
ship, xxviii.  12-28 — omniscient  and  omnipresent,  the  searcher 
of  hearts,  ix.  13-18  ;  xiii.  19  ;  xxi.  22  ;  xxvi.  6  ;  xxxiv.  21-22 
— the  Almighty,  doing  wonders,  executing  His  will  in  heaven 
above  and  in  the  earth  beneath,  ix.  1-19  ;  xi.  10  ;  xxvi.  6-14 ; 
xxxiv.  29 — the  Great  Euler  and  Governor  of  the  Universe, 
which  He  has  made,  xxxvii.  1-22,  and  exercising  a  special  and 
controlling  providence  over  all  angels  and  men  and  creatures, 
botli  animate  and  inanimate,  i.  6-22  ;  ii.  1-10  ;  xii.  9-25  ;  see 
the  whole  book — just,  ix.  1-2  ;  x.  14-15  ;  xiii.  8  ;  xxxiv.  19, 
28,-  rendering  to  every  man  according  to  his  works  —  in- 
dependent, xxxiii.  13  ;  xxxv.  5-11 — immense,  unsearchable, 
xi.  1-9 — self-existent,  unchangeable,  xxiii.  13  ;  xxxvi.  22 ; 
xxxvii.  23 — most  Holy,  xxv.  4^6  ;  xxxiv.  10-12 — that  God  is 
a  prayer-hearing  and  sin-pardoning  God,  through  the  merits 
of  the  Redeemer  to  come,  i.  5  ;  xiii.  8-10  ;  xix.  25-27.  The 
descriptions  of  God  and  of  His  works,  and  of  His  providence 
are  not  exceeded  for  awful  majesty,  sublimity,  and  glory  in 
any  other  portion  of  the  Word  of  God.     Chapters  xxxviii.-xli. 

He  teaches  that  the  Redeemer  of  men  ever  liveth  their  hope 
and  confidence,  and  will  appear  at  the  last  day  for  the  final 
redemption  of  soul  and  body.  Herein  we  recognize  the  teach- 
ings of  Enoch  on  this  subject,  Jude  vs.  14-15. 

He  also  makes  us  acquainted  with  the  existence  and  agency 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  xxvi.  13  ;  xxxiii.  4,  working  efficiently, 
and  giving  life  and  power  to  the  works  of  God.  He  thus  re- 
veals the  persons  in  the  Godhead. 

Of  Angels,  he  afiirms  the  existence  and  agency  of  both 
those  which  are  evil  and  those  which  are  good,  i.  G-19  ;  ii. 
1-8  ;  xxxviii.  7.     We  have  in  Job  for  the  first  time  the  name 


DOCTKINES   OF    THE   BOOK   OF   JOB.  145 

of  Satan,  the  prince  of  the  fallen  angels,  tlie  Devil,  called  by 
way  of  eminence,  the  Adversary — Satan.  Comp.  Job  i.  G  ; 
ii.  1,  with  Zech.  iii.  1-2,  and  Rev.  xii.  10.  The  idea  that 
Satan,  in  Job  i.  6  and  ii.  1,  is  one  of  the  good  angels,  waiting 
around  the  throne  of  God,  who  proposes  the  trial  of  Job,  is,  to 
say  the  least,  ridiculous.  Satan  is  brought  to  view  as  "  going 
to  and  fro  in  the  earth,  and  walking  np  and  down  in  it,"  by 
the  permission  of  God,  "  considering  "  the  characters  of  men, 
and  putting  them  to  the  proof  by  his  temptations  and.  trials. 

Of  man,  Job  teaches  that  our  first  father,  Adam,  sinned 
and  endeavored  to  hide  his  transgressions,  xxxi.  33 — that  man 
is  formed  out  of  clay,  and  returns  at  death  to  dust,  xxxiii.  G  ; 
xxxiv.  1-5  ;  xix.  26 — that  he  is  born  in  sin,  xxv.  1-4 ;  xiv. ; 
iv.  15  ;  14-16 — altogether  depraved  and  defiled  before  a  holy 
God  :  destitute  of  all  righteousness  for  justification,  ix.  20-21. 
His  most  perfect  works  and  best  endeavors  are  all  defective 
and  defiled,  and  neither  to  be  boasted  of  nor  tnisted  in,  ix. 
30-31  ;  X.  15,  and  man  needs  only  to  have  right  views  of  the 
majesty,  holiness,  and  justice  of  God,  to  be  overwhelmed  with  a 
sense  of  his  weakness  and  vileness,  and  to  abhor  himself  and 
repent  in  dust  and  ashes,  xl.  1-5  ;  xlii.  1-G. 

He  teaches  that  true  wisdom  or  religion  is  "the  one  thing 
needful  "  to  man  :  of  priceless  value,  above  gold,  the  gold  of 
Ophir  :  above  silver,  and  above  the  precious  stones  and  jewels. 
It  is  not  to  be  found  by  human  effort  either  in  the  land  or  in 
the  sea,  it  is  not  perceived  by  the  eyes  of  living  men.  God 
alone  prepares  it  and  bestows  it  upon  men,  xxviii.  12-28. 
"  Behold  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  that  is  wisdom,  and  to  depart 
from  evil  is  understanding,"  v.  28 — that  repentance  is  com- 
manded of  God,  xxxvi.  10 — that  it  precedes  forgiveness,  xi. 
14-20  ;  xxii.  21-23  ;  xxxiii.  27-28, — and  forgiveness  comes 
through  faith,  i.  5  ;  xlii.  8-10,  in  that  atoning  blood  to  be  shed 
by  the  coming  Redeemer,  xix.  22.  We  are  consequently 
accepted,  forgiven,  justified,  through  fiiith.  Impenitency  is 
ruin,  xxxiv.  24-28.  It  was  the  unbelief  and  wicked  impeni- 
tency and  rebellion  of  mankind  that  drew  upon  the  world  the. 
awful  judgment  of  the  flood,  xxii.  15-18.  The  wicked  shall 
be  destroyed,  xxi.  1-34 ;  ch.  xxiv.,  etc. 
10 


146  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    OF    GOD. 

He  teaches  that  those  who  are  righteous  before  God,  His 
true  worshippers,  shall  never  fall  from  their  high  profession  ; 
but  their  sanctification  being  a  progressive  work  in  them,  shall 
be  carried  on  unto  perfection,  xvii.  9 — that  the  child  of  God 
walks  by  faith — that  an  habitual  reliance  upon,  and  a  looking 
forward  to  the  glorious  appearing  of  the  Lord  from  Heaven, 
sustains  him  in  all  duty,  and  under  every  trial,  xix.  25-27 — 
that  there  is  to  be  in  the  last  day,  when  the  heavens  shall  be 
removed  out  of  their  place,  a  resurrection  of  the  dead,  xiv. 
10-15  ;  xix.  25-27,  of  the  same  bodies,  destroyed  by  worms, 
and  returned  back  to  dust,  but  changed  to  behold  God  in  glory 
— and  that  resurrection  followed  by  a  judgment ;  and  that 
judgment  by  the  blessedness  of  the  righteous,  which  shall  con- 
sist in  the  full  vision  and  fniition  of  God  :  while  the  contrary 
is  involved,  the  destruction  of  the  wicked  and  their  banishment 
from  the  presence  of  God  !  xix.  25-27.  Job  understood,  and, 
by  the  grace  of  God,  embraced  all  these  fundamental  and 
saving  doctrines. 

What  now,  may  we  inquire,  was  the  religious  character  of 
Job  f  The  Holy  Searcher  of  Hearts  calls  him  "  My  servant 
Job  :  there  is  none  like  him  in  the  earth — a  perfect  and  an 
upright  man,  one  that  feareth  God  and  escheweth  evil,"  i.  8  ; 
ii.  3  ;  xxviii.  28.  His  religious  character  is  identified  with 
that  of  all  the  true  saints  of  God  in  all  ages  :  although  in 
greater  perfection  than  is  to  be  met  with  in  multitudes.  He 
was  born  of  the  Spirit,  through  the  word,  and  all  the  fruits  of 
the  Spirit  apjicared  in  his  heart  and  life.  His  piety  was  that  of 
the  covenant  of  grace. 

Briefly,  then,  he  was  a  believer.  By  faith  he  embraced 
the  great  Redeemer  of  Sinners,  promised  of  God  from  the  be- 
ginning— typified  in  sacrifices — preached  by  patriarchs  before 
him,  and  commended  by  their  own  examples  of  faith  in  Him, 
i.  5  ;  xlii.  8-9  ;  xix.  25-27.  Tlie  fruits  of  this  faith  appeared 
in  his  prayerful,  i.  5,  watchful,  xxxi.  1-40,  holy  life,  Ezek.  xiv, 
14-20.  He  faithfully  discharged  his  duty  in  his  family — 
towards  his  wife,  ii,  9-10,  his  children,  i.  5,  his  servants,  xxxi. 
13-15, — towards  his  brethren  in  the  Lord,  xlii.  8-9,  and 
towards  all  men  with  whom  he  stood  in  any  way  connected ; 


job's  religious  chakacteb.  147 

he  was  upriglit  and  just,  xxix.  14 ;  cb.  xxxi. ;  charitable,  xxix. 
15-16  ;  cb.  xxxi. ;  merciful,  xxx.  25  ;  xxxi.  29-31 ;  hospitable, 
xxxi.  32  ;  the  friend  and  benefactor  of  the  poor,  xxix.  12  ;  cb. 
xxxi. — visiting  and  protecting  the  fatherless  and  widows  in 
their  affliction,  xxix.  12-13  ;  cb.  xxxi.  ;  the  defender  of  the 
weak  and  oppressed,  xxix.  17 ;  of  perfect  morality  in  all  the 
relations  of  life ;  sincere  and  upright  in  liis  profession,  xxxi. 
1-23  ;  he  served  God,  not  from  selfish  and  worldly  considera- 
tions, but  out  of  supreme  aSection,  i.  9-22  ;  ii.  4-10.  In  the 
days  of  bis  greatest  prosperity  be  never  made  gold  bis  trust, 
but  abhorred  covetousness,  i.  21  ;  cb.  xxxi.,  and  turned  in 
horror  from  idolatry,  xxxi.  24-28.  He  ever  felt  his  own  de- 
pendence and  sinfulness  and  unworthiness  before  God,  xiii. 
23,  etc.,  and  used  the  world  as  though  be  used  it  not,  cb.  xxxi. 
He  loved  the  law  of  God  more  than  bis  necessary  food,  xxiii. 
12,  and  submitted  with  patient  resignation  to  bis  darkest  and 
deepest  afflictions,  reposing  an  unshaken  trust  in  God,  i. 
21-22  ;  ii.  9-10  ;  xiii.  15,  strengthening  himself  in  his  living 
Redeemer,  and  looking  beyond  his  present  sorrow  to  the  resur- 
rection and  to  final  happiness  with  God,  xix.  25-27. 

Under  his  overwhelming  afflictions  he  gave  way  to  his 
grief,  and  lamented  that  ever  he  was  born  ;  yea,  be  cursed  the 
day  of  bis  birth,  and  contended  with  bis  friends  that  be  could 
charge  himself  with  no  particular  transgressions  for  which  be 
was  justly  suffering,  and  felt  willing  to  appeal  to  God  for  his 
justification.  Yet  when  God  revealed  His  sovereignty,  holi- 
ness, and  glory,  he  bumbled  himself  beneath  His  mighty  band, 
and  owned  His  righteous  judgments  :  yea,  be  abhorred  himself 
in  bis  sinfulness  and  repented  in  dust  and  ashes,  xl.  1-5  ;  xiii. 
1-6.  He  forgave  bis  friends  their  unkindness,  and  sacrificed 
and  made  prevalent  intercessions  for  them,  xiii.  8-9.  In  a  like 
manner  when  it  pleased  God  to  remove  His  band  from  him, 
and  to  turn  the  hearts  of  his  relations  and  friends  (who  had 
forsaken  him  in  bis  days  of  sorrow),  in  affectionate  sympathy 
towards  him,  and  incline  them  to  contribute  to  his  comfort, 
and  the  repair  of  his  fortunes,  Job  received  them  back  to  bis 
embraces  without  reproaches,  and  accepted  gratefully  the 
assistance  which  they  offered   him   (xiii.  10,  11).     And  the 


148  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

Lord  brought  liis  afflictions  to  a  liappy  end  ;  He  was  very  piti- 
ful and  of  tender  mercy  to  His  servant,  wlio  had,  when  tried, 
so  well  endured,  James  v.  11.  He  added  unto  him  double 
his  former  wealth  :  the  same  number  of  sons  and  of  daughters 
which  he  had  before,  and  a  further  life  of  one  hundred  and 
forty  years,  and  finally,  when  old  and  full  of  days,  he  peace- 
fully died,  and  was  gathered  to  his  fathers. 

The  book  of  Job  casts  gixat  light  ujpon  the  faith  and  piet/y 
of  the  ^people  of  God  in  the  ages  immediately  succeeding  the 
flood — the  same  that  they  have  been  ever  since — the  faith  and 
piety  peculiar  to  the  covenant  of  grace  (the  Word  of  God 
recognizes  none  othei;) :  faith  in  Christ — "  the  Seed  of  the 
woman  " — to  come — the  same  living  principle  then,  that  it  is 
now :  its  transforming,  powerful,  permanent  effects,  the  same 
then  as  now.  The  same  clear  view  and  conception  of  the 
whole  person  and  work  of  the  Kedeemer,  was  not  so  fully 
enjoyed  then  as  now  :  but  enough  was  known  and  understood, 
to  draw  the  souls  of  men  to  Him,  and  the  same  spirit  that 
now  seals  Christ  and  all  His  benefits  to  believers  sealed  them 
then.  There  was  but  one  true  religion  then  on  earth  as  now  : 
the  religion  of  the  covenant  of  grace.  The  people  of  God  were 
known  and  read  of  all  men,  and  were  as  distinct  from  the 
world  then  as  now.  They  sympathized  and  consorted  with, 
and  aided  each  other  then  as  now,  and  worshipped  and  sacri- 
ficed and  prayed  together.  The  world  was  much  the  same 
then  as  now,  and  had  its  distinct  nations — its  kings  and  nobles 
— and  subjects.  They  understood,  and  practised  themselves  in 
the  art  of  war,  xxxix.  19-25.  There  were  masters  and  ser- 
vants ;  rich  and  poor ;  the  oppressors  and  the  oppressed ;  the 
proud  and  the  lowly  ;  the  husbandman  and  the  artist ;  the 
righteous  and  the  wicked  ;  the  idolater  and  the  worshipper  of 
the  true  God  ;  the  hypocrite  and  the  sound  believer,  ch.  viii. 
13-18  ;  xiii.  16  ;  xxvii.  8-10.  And  there  were  judges  in  the 
land,  set  for  the  punishment  of  evil-doers,  and  for  the  praise 
of  them  that  did  well,  xxxi.  26-28  ;  xxxi.  9-12.  And  in  this 
juoving  world,  the  men  of  God  did  walk  by  faith,  letting  their 
light  shine  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  men ;  they 
had  then,  as  now,  to  contend  with  "  the  world,  the  flesh,  and 


EXISTENCE   OF    IDOLATRY.  149 

the  devil."  The  same  covenant-keeping  God  was  over  them 
then  as  now,  and  taught  them  by  His  Spirit,  and  divided  unto 
them  their  days  of  prosperity  and  adversity,  causing  all  things 
to  work  together  for  their  good,  xxxiv.  31-82  ;  xxvi.  8-9. 
The  righteous  held  on  his  way,  and  he  that  had  clean  hands 
grew  stronger  and  stronger,  xvii.  19. 

We  close  this  view  of  the  book  of  Job,  with  an  observation 
of  two  facts.  First,  the  exutence  of  idolatry — which  Job  char- 
acterizes as  "  a  denial  of  the  God  who  is  above,"  and  the  idol- 
atry of  which  he  speaks,  is  that  of  the  worship  of  the  heavenly 
bodies :  of  the  sun  and  the  moon,  called  Sabianism,  xxxi. 
26-28.  Idolatry  first  appears  in  the  time  of  Serug,  Josh, 
xxiv.  1-2.  "With  Serug,  we  suppose  that  Job  was  contem- 
porary. It  is  probable  that  there  were  other  gods  worshipped 
besides  the  heavenly  bodies.  Of  idolatry,  Job  says,  "  This 
also  were  an  iniquity  to  be  punished  by  the  judge."  The  same 
remark  he  makes  of  adultery,  "  It  is  an  iniquity  to  be  punished 
by  the  judges,"  xxxi,  10-12.  The  inference  is,  that  idolatry 
was  viewed  as  an  offence  against  the  well-being  of  society,  as 
was  adultery,  and,  like  that  heinous  wickedness,  called  for 
judicial  investigation  and  punishment.  If  ever  kept  in  check 
by  punishment,  it  could  not  have  been  of  long  duration. 
After  the  visible  Church  was  placed  under  a  civil  constitution, 
it  was  viewed  as  treason  against  God,  and,  in  the  purer  times 
of  the  Church,  punished  accordingly. 

Second,  the  existence  of  toritinrj. — Job,  in  several  places, 
speaks  of  writing  and  of  books.  "  For  thou  writest  bitter  things 
against  me,"  ch.  xiii.  26.  "  Oh !  that  my  words  were  now 
written  !  oh,  that  they  were  printed  in  a  book  !  (or  graven) — 
that  they  were  graven  with  an  iron  pen  and  lead  in  the  rock 
forever  !  "  xix.  23-24.  "  Oh,  that  mine  adversary  had  written 
a  book,"  xxxi.  35.  What  were  the  materials,  and  with  what 
instrument  writing  was  committed  to  them,  we  shall  not  in- 
quire. The  art  of  writing  was  known,  and  there  were  records 
or  books  ;  and,  from  tlie  manner  in  which  Job  speaks,  writing 
was  common,  and  resorted  to  on  important  occasions.  This 
fact  may  throw  some  light  on  the  following  passage  :  "  My 
feet  have  held  His  steps  ;  His  way  have  I  kept,  and  not  de- 


150  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

clined.  Neither  have  I  gone  back  from  the  commandments 
of  His  lips.  I  have  esteemed  the  words  of  His  mouth  more 
than  my  necessary  food,"  xxiii.  11-12.  Here  is  plain  refer- 
ence to  the  word  or  law  of  the  Lord,  which  Job  loved,  and 
made  the  rule  of  his  duty — "  a  lamp  unto  his  feet,  and  a  light 
unto  his  path  " — a  law  to  which,  it  would  seem,  he  had  con- 
stant reference  ;  to  which  he  could  come  for  support  and  direc- 
tion. The  very  terms  which  he  uses  are  those  which  we  after- 
wards find  applied  to  the  written  law — the  written  Revelation 
of  God. 

There  is  nothing  imjDrobable — nay,  many  things  render 
it  the  contrary — that  the  revelations  of  God,  and  His  wonderful 
dealings  toward  men,  and  all  the  history  of  the  creation  and 
fall,  of  the  flood,  and  repeopling  of  the  world,  and  the  gen- 
ealogy of  Christ,  the  promised  seed  of  the  woman,  the  lines  of 
spiritual  and  promised  descent — were  all  committed  to  writing, 
and  formed  the  Bible,  the  "Word  of  God  to  His  Church,  in 
these  early  days.  And  to  which  we  may  add  the  ten  com- 
mandments, if  not  set  down  in  the  order  observed  at  Sinai, 
then  embraced  in  substance.  Job  refers  to  tlie  creation  and  to 
Adam's  sin,  and  the  circumstances  of  it ;  he  refers  to  the  flood, 
and  the  causes  which  brought  it  about ;  the  ceremonial  law  of 
sacrifices  ;  and  also  to  the  moral  law.  .Job  condemns  idolatry, 
which  comes  under  the  first  and  second  commandments  ;  and 
adultery,  which  comes  under  the  seventh.  The  penalty  of 
death  is  visited  upon  the  murderer,  which  comes  under  the 
sixth  ;  in  short,  there  is  not  one  of  the  commandments  which 
does  not  appear  exerting  a  controlling  influence  over  Job,  in 
]iis  life  and  character,  a  sketch  of  which  he  gives  us  in  differ- 
ent places,  but  very  particularly  in  the  thirty -first  chapter. 

It  is  by  no  means  denied,  that  all  these  things  might  liave 
safely  and  surely  been  transmitted  by  tradition  to  Noah,  to 
Job,  to  Abraham,  and  to  Moses,  and  that  by  Moses  all  were 
committed  to  writing,  and  that  infallibly,  by  the  inspiration 
of  God.  Nor  is  it  denied,  that  in  the  absence  of  all  reliable 
tradition,  Moses  might,  by  the  immediate  inspiration  of  God, 
have  written  all  we  have  in  the  Bible,  from  the  creation  to  his 
day.     But,  inasmuch  as  Job  asserts  the  existence  of  the  art  of 


ART   OF   WRITING   IN   JOB's   DAY.  151 

writing,  and  refers  to  the  law  of  God  as  something  known  and 
fixed,  it  is  not  an  improbable  supposition  that  sacred  writings 
existed  in  the  earliest  asres  of  the  world ;  tliat  God  has  never 
left  Ills  people  without  a  written  revelation  ',  and  that  Moses 
has  added  the  revelations  of  God  to  His  Church,  made 
through  himself,  to  those  which  had  existed  before  his  time. 

That  this  appears  more  than  probable,  is  evident  from 
Exod.  xviii.  14-27.  Moses,  as  the  appointed  deliverer,  was 
also  the  lawgiver  and  judge  of  Israel.  In  the  capacity  of  judge 
he  was  acting,  when  Jethro,  his  father-in-law,  visited  him  in 
Horeb,  hefore  the  giving  of  the  law ;  and  he  explained  to 
Jethro  the  reason  why  he  sat,  from  morning  to  night,  with  the 
people  standing  by  him  :  "  Because  the  people  come  unto  me 
to  inquire  of  God.  When  they  have  a  matter,  they  come  unto 
me :  and  1  judge  between  one  and  another,  and  I  do  make 
them  know,  (or  instruct,  cause  them  to  understand,)  the  statutes 
of  God,  and  His  laws,"  What  statutes  and  laws  of  God  were 
these  ?  Doubtless,  all  the  divine  communications  of  God  with 
His  people,  from  Adam  to  JSToah,  and  from  Noah  down  to 
Abraham,  and  to  Moses  himself:  all  which  had  respect  to  the 
faith  and  practice  of  men,  as  well  in  reference  to  God,  and  the 
things  of  eternity,  as  to  men  and  the  things  of  time.  These 
"  statutes  and  laws,"  from  the  creation  to  Moses,  were  numer- 
ous. Were  they  written,  or  unwritten  ?  They  could,  indeed, 
have  been  transmitted  orally,  by  tradition  ;  but  the  remark  of 
Moses  to  Jethro  resembles  that  of  a  judge  who  expounds  and 
explains  statutes  and  laws  which  were  in  some  settled  and 
fixed  form,  to  which  he  could  refer,  and  to  which,  as  the 
accredited  word  of  the  Lord,  he  could  appeal,  and  say  to  the 
people  in  his  decisions  :  "  Thus  is  it  written,  and  thus  saith  the 
Lord:' 


162  THE   HISTORY    OF  THE   CHTJKCH   OF   GOD. 


CHAPTEK  XIII. 

CALL  OP  ABRAHAM, — HISTORY  OF  CHURCH  CONDENSED.— ORGANIZATION 
BECOMES  DISTINCT,  BUT  NO  NEW  CHURCH  SET  UP  IN  ABRAHAM. — HIS 
CALL  OP  THE  ELECTION  OP  GOD,  EFFECTUAL  AND  OFFICIAL. — CHARAC- 
TER :  FATHER  OP  THE  FAITHFUL. — DEATH. — ERROR  OP  LOT. — ABRA- 
HAM A  MASTER. — SLAVERY  IN  CONNECTION  "WITH  THE  CHURCH  CON- 
SIDERED. 

Abeahaim  was  born  352  years  after  the  flood,  in  the  year 
of  tlie  world  2008,  almost  precisely  midway  between  the 
creation,  and  the  birth  of  Christ.  Stephen  (Acts  vii.  2)  fixes 
his  call  at  the  time  that  he  was  dwelling  in  his  own  country, 
Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  in  Mesopotamia,  Gen.  xv.  7;  Acts  vii. 
1-4,  among  his  kindred  and  in  his  own  father's  honse ;  with 
whom  Joshua,  xxiv.  1-3,  and  Moses,  Gen.  xi.  31-32,  agree. 
Terah  accompanied  his  son  as  far  as  Haran,  where  he  died 
after  they  had  dwelt  there  some  time.  Gen.  xi.  31-32.  After 
his  father's  death,  Abraham  resumed  his  journey,  being  now 
seventy-five  years  of  age,  and  came  into  the  land  of  Canaan, 
A.  M.,  2083,  and  B.  C.  1921.  It  will  be  sufficiently  accurate 
if  we  fix  his  call  at  this  time,  although  he  was  called  in  Ur 
some  time  before. 

The  Bible  would  have  attained  an  inconvenient  size,  had 
the  Holy  Spirit  recorded  the  history  of  the  Church  during 
this  long  period  of  2083  years,  with  the  minuteness  which 
characterizes  the  subsequent  history.  It  was  unnecessary  : 
the  great  links  in  the  chain,  although  few,  are  preserved  and 
are  sufficient.  For  all  this  long  period  we  recognize  the 
Church,  a  visible  body,  enjoying  her  Sabbaths,  her  sacrifices. 


DISTINCT   ORGANIZATION   OF   THE   CHURCH.  153 

the  ministry  of  the  Word  through  patriarchs,  prophets,  and 
preachers  of  rightconsness  ;  confined  to  no  particular  tribe  or 
nation,  but  gathering  her  members  from  every  quarter,  and 
under  the  watchful  care  of  her  divine  head.  And  yet  while 
existing,  as  we  are  constrained  to  believe,  in  an  organized 
form,  .which  is  essential  to  visibility,  unity,  and  efficiency, 
that  particular  form  is  not  preserved  in  the  record.  For 
example,  it  is  not  known  what  was  the  original  constitution 
of  this  visible  body  in  respect  to  those  who  should  be  con- 
sidered members  of  it,  nor  in  what  manner  the  officers,  patri- 
archs, prophets,  and  preachers  of  righteousness,  were  called, 
qualified,  and  set  apart  to  their  office ;  nor  how  government 
was  administered  ;  nor  what  was  the  rite  or  manner  of  the 
admission  of  members  ;  nor  how  the  "Word  of  God  was  com- 
mitted to  the  Church,  whether  in  a  traditionary  or  written 
form  ;  nor  how  public  worship  was  conducted  ;  nor  how  the 
Cliurch  stood  in  relation  to  the  State.  All  these  and  many 
other  interesting  matters  can  never  be  known,  all  plausible 
conjecture,  well-digested  theories,  and  dogmatical  assertions 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

Upon  the  call  of  Abraham,  a  change  occurs  in  respect  to 
the  organization  of  the  Church,  and  she  becomes  perfectly 
distinct  in  her  visibility,  progress,  and  development.  We 
enter  upon  a  new  era  in  her  history. 

No  new  Church  is  founded  in  Abraham.  On  the  contrary, 
he  is  drawn  out  of  the  ancient  Church,  he  constitutes  a  part 
and  is  a  continuation  of  the  same.  It  is  now  the  will  of  God, 
for  the  more  perfect  unfolding  and  completion  of  His  promise 
of  tlie  Redeemer,  and  of  His  wondrous  plan  of  Salvation,  that 
His  Clinrch  should  be  restricted  for  a  season  to  one  people, 
generally  but  not  absolutely  so  (for  permission  is  made  for  all 
other  people  to  enter  into  it  who  will).  Abraham  and  his 
descendants  in  the  line  of  pronn'se  are  that  people. 

At  this  period  it  is  proper  to  give  a  comprehensive  view 
of  the  Church  in  liistory.  From  Adam  to  Abraham,  2083 
years,  the  Church  existed,  confined  to  no  particular  people, 
in  a  visible  and  organized  form,  but  that  organized  form  is 
not  preserved.     From  Abraham  to  the  resurrection  of  our 


154:  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

Lord,  1955  years,  it  existed  in  an  organized  form,  and  was 
confined  (generally)  to  one  people,  the  Israelites.  After  the 
ascension  of  our  Lord,  the  partition  walls  being  broken  down, 
it  was  opened  to  the  reception  of  the  wliole  world,  and  has 
continued  ever  since  made  up  of  all  in  every  nation  who 
believe  in  Him. 

The  call  of  Abraham  was  of  the  sovereign  and  gratuitous 
election  of  God.  He  was  unregenerate,  and  of  a  family  of 
idolaters  previous  to  their  conversion.  Gen.  xxxi.  53  ;  Tsa.  ii. 
1-2 ;  Gen.  xxxi.  19-20  ;  xxxv.  1-4 ;  Josh  xxiv.  1-4 ;  few  in 
numbers,  and  weak  in  power.  Dent.  vii.  7 ;  x.  22  ;  Gen.  xiii. 
14 ;  xxxiv.  30 ;  Ps.  cv.  12.  He  was,  first,  effectually  called 
through  the  word  and  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  Gen.  xv.  6 ;  Kom. 
iv.  1-3  ;  1  Thess.  i.  9  ;  James  ii.  20-26  ;  and,  second,  ofiicially 
called  to  high  station  and  service  in  the  Church — this  official 
call  involving  the  following  particulars  :  a  going  out  from  his 
own  country ;  a  separation  from  his  kindred  and  father's 
house,  and  all  other  people,  and  a  location  in  a  land  i:)ointed 
out  and  made  sure  to  him  by  the  promise  of  God,  where  he 
should  be  the  progenitor  of  Christ,  and  become  a  great  nation 
and  a  blessing  to  all  the  families  of  the  earth,  having  God  in 
covenant  to  him  and  to  his  seed  after  him  forever.  Gen.  xii. 
1-Y  ;  XV.  1-21 ;  xvii.  1-27  ;  Heb.  xi.  8-9. 

This  distinguished  man  was  called  "  the  friend  of  God," 
and  nine  times  did  God  appear  nnto  and  communicate  with 
him :  in  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  Acts  vii.  1-4 ;  after  he  arrived 
in  Canaan,  when  He  made  promise  to  him  of  that  land,  Gen. 
xii.  7  ;  when  Abraham  separated  from  Lot,  xiii.  14-18  ;  when 
God  promised  him  seed  in  general,  xv.  1-21,  and  changed  his 
name  from  Abram  to  Abraham,  entering  into  covenant  with 
him,  xvii.  1-27  ;  when  He  gave  him  the  special  promise  of  a 
son,  and  Abraham  interceded  for  Sodom,  xviii.  1-33  ;  when 
God  commanded  him  to  send  Hagar  and  Ishmael  away,  xxi. 
12-13  ;  to  sacrifice  Isaac,  xxii.  1-8  ;  and  finally  He  apj^eared 
to  him  at  the  sacrifice  of  Isaac,  to  stay  his  hand  and  to  bless 
him,  xxii.  9-19. 

He  possessed  meekness,  forgiveness,  and  affection,  Gen. 
xiii.  1-18  ;    the  valor  and  decision  of  a  warrior,  generosity, 


CHAKACTEK  OF  ABRAHAM.  155 

independence,  and  veneration  for  the  priesthood,  Gen.  xiv. 
1-24 ;  ardent  love  for  the  saints  of  God  and  for  the  souls  of 
men.  Gen.  xviii.  1-33  ;  xix.  1-38.  He  led  a  life  of  prayer 
and  faith,  commanding  his  children  and  his  liousehold  after 
him,  that  tliey  might  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord,  to  do  justice 
and  judgment.  Gen.  xiii.  18  ;  xviii.  lY-19  ;  xxi.  22-31.  His 
faith  and  obedience  were  implicit.  Gen,  xvii.  19  ;  xxi.  1-21 ; 
and  his  crowning  act  of  faith  was  the  ofl'ering  up  of  Isaac,  the 
son  of  promise.  Gen.  xxii.  1-19  ;  Horn.  iv.  11-22  ;  Heb.  xl. 
lT-19.  Yet  twice,  through  the  fear  of  man,  he  denied  his  own 
wife,  Gen.  xii.  10-20  ;  xx.  1-18,  and,  upon  the  delay  of  the 
promised  seed,  yielded  to  the  wishes  of  his  wife,  and  became  a 
polygamist,  Gen.  xvi.  1-16. 

He  was  called  "  the  father  of  all  them  that  believe,"  Kom. 
iv.  11-16,  not  in  the  sense  that  he  was  the  first  of  believers, 
for  many  thousands  had  preceded  him,  but  in  the  sense  that 
he  was,  in  the  genuineness  and  greatness  of  his  faith,  a  most 
distinguished  example  to  all  believers,  besides  being  the  head 
and  beginning  of  the  great  body  of  believers,  now  set  up  in 
him.  After  the  death  of  Sarah,  of  like  strength  of  religious 
character  and  faith  with  himself.  Gen.  xxiii.  1-20  ;  Heb.  xi. 
11,  he  obtained  a  suitable  wife  for  his  son  Isaac,  xxiv.  1-67, 
then  married  Keturah,  by  whom  he  had  six  sons  ;  to  these  he 
gave  portions  and  settled  them  off  in  the  east  country,  but  to 
Isaac  he  willed  the  bulk  of  his  property.  Having  sojourned 
in  the  land  of  promise  as  in  a  strange  country  for  one  hundred 
years,  a  pilgrim  on  the  earth,  seeking  a  better  coimtry,  that  is 
a  heavenly,  he  died  in  full  faith  of  salvation  in  the  promised 
Eedeemer,  whom  he  saw  afar  off,  and  rejoiced  in,  at  the  age 
of  one  hundred  threescore  and  fifteen  years,  an  old  man  and 
full  of  days.  His  sons  Isaac  and  Ishmael  buried  him  in  the 
cave  of  Machpelah  with  his  wife  Sarah,  Gen.  xxv.  1-10  ;  Heb. 
xi.  11-16  ;  John  viii.  56. 

The  error  of  Lot,  who  left  Ur  to  share  in  the  fortunes  of 
his  uncle,  appears  to  have  been  his  separation  from  Abraham 
for  the  sake  of  earthly  advantage,  making  his  home  in  Sodom. 
From  that  home  he  was  not  weaned,  either  by  the  vexing  of 
his  righteous  soul  from  day  to  day,  by  seeing  and  hearing  the 


156  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

unlawful  deeds  of  those  heaven-daring  sinners,  nor  by  the 
judgment  of  war  and  of  captivity  which  came  upon  the  city, 
nor  by  his  rescue  by  Abraham  ;  but  from  that  home  he  was 
forcibly  drawn  by  the  angels,  "  the  Lord  being  merciful  to 
him,"  with  the  loss  of  all  his  possessions,  and  a  large  part  of 
his  family,  who  partook  of  the  unbelief  of  Sodom  (and  among 
them  his  own  wife).  Two  of  his  daughters  only  were  saved 
with  him,  and  they  lived  to  curse  him  with  drunkenness  and 
incest.  Gen.  xix.  30-38.  That  he  repented  of  these  great  sins 
we  know  from  tlie  fact  that  he  was  delivered  from  the  over- 
throw of  Sodom  by  the  Lord,  as  "  a  righteous  man,"  Gen. 
xviii.  23-33,  and  he  is  recognized  in  the  New  Testament  long 
after  as  such,  2  Pet.  ii.  Y-9  ;  Gen.  xix.  29  ;  Luke  xvii.  28-32. 

Job  had  spoken  of  his  servants.  Job  xix.  16  ;  xxxi.  13,  and 
Abraham,  "  tlie  father  of  the  faithful,"  is  also  a  master.  Gen. 
xii.  5  ;  xvii.  27 ;  xx.  14,  having  servants  born  in  his  house, 
and  bought  with  his  money,  and  given  to  him  by  Abimelech, 
king  of  Gerar.  The  institution  of  Slavery,  here  for  the  first 
time,  makes  its  appearance  in  the  history  of  the  Church. 

Slavery,  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  is  a  man's  being  owned 
as  a  man  by  his  fellow-man.  Job  xxxi.  13-15  ;  Gen.  xviii. 
17-19  ;  Col.  iv.  1 ;  Eph.  vi.  9  ;  Gen.  xvii.  11-13  ;  xxiii.  24- 
27 ;  and  in  the  sense  that  his  person  is  under  the  control,  and 
his  services  at  the  command  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  owner. 
Gen.  xiv.  14-24 ;  ii.  35  ;  Levit.  xxv.  44-46  ;  Job  xix.  16  ; 
Exod.  XX.  17 ;  Deut.  xv.  18  ;  Matt.  viii.  9  ;  Luke  xvii.  7-9  ; 
Eph.  vi.  5-8  ;  Col.  iii.  22-25  ;  1  Tim.  vi.  1-2 ;  Titus  ii.  9-12. 
Such  control  of  his  person  for  service  may  be  transferred 
to  another,  Gen.  xx.  14-24;  xxxiv.  36  ;  xxv.  5,  and  xxvi.  12- 
14 ;  Levit.  xxv.  44-46.  The  owner  has  also  authority  not 
only  to  punish  the  servant  for  transgressions,  but  also  to  com- 
pel his  obedience  and  service,  Gen.  xvi.  6  ;  Exod.  xxi.  20-21  ; 
Prov.  xxix.  19  ;  Luke  xii.  47 ;  1  Sam.  xxv.  10 ;  1  Kings  ii. 
39-40  ;  Gen.  xvi.  8-9  ;  Philemon  vs.  1-25  ;  Ps.  cxxiii.  2  ;  1 
Pet.  ii.  20  ;  Eom.  xiii.  1-5. 

The  rigJit  of  owner sM])  was  created  in  various  ways,  as 
follows  : — By  conquest.  Prisoners  taken  in  war,  instead  of 
being  destroyed,  might   be  reduced   to  slavery  ;    they  were 


SLAVERY   IN   CONNECTION   WITH   THE   CHUKCH.  157 

divided  among  tlie  conquerors,  who,  at  their  pleasure,  either 
retained  them  for  tlieir  own  use,  or  sold  them  into  servitude 
to  others.  Gen.  xiv.  21  ;  Dcut.  xx.  11-14 ;  xxi.  10-14 ;  1 
Kings  ix.  20-21 ;  Deut.  xxviii.  68 ;  Levit.  xxv.  44-46  ;  Josh. 
ix.  1-27. — By  purchase ;  an  equivalent  in  money,  or  any- 
thing else  being  given  to  the  owner  for  his  slave,  Gen  xvii, 
12-13  ;  xxiii.  27 ;  Exod.  xii.  44 ;  Gen.  xxxvii.  26-36  ;  xxxix. 
1 ;  Exod.  xxi.  2  ;  Matt,  xviii.  25  ;  Levit.  xxv.  44-46  ;  Deut. 
XV.  12  ;  Levit.  xxii.  11.  Or  the  poor,  unable  to  support  him- 
self, sold  himself  or  part  of  his  family  for  a  support,  into 
slavery,  Levit.  xxv.  38-54 ;  Neh.  v.  5.  (The  price — Exod. 
xxi.  32  ;  Levit.  xxvii.  1-8  ;  Ezek.  xxvii.  13.) — By  debt ;  the 
creditor  seizing  the  person  of  the  debtor,  and  holding  him  in 
bondage  for  the  debt,  2  Kings  iv.  1  ;  or  selling  the  debtor  for 
the  debt.  Matt,  xviii.  25. — By  crime.  The  thief,  when  unable 
to  make  restitution,  was  sold  for  his  theft,  Exod.  xxii.  3. — By 
birth.  The  children  of  slaves  followed  the  condition  of  their 
parents  ;  or  if  born  of  a  free-man  and  of  a  slave  mother,  they 
followed  the  condition  of  the  mother.  Gen.  xiv.  14 ;  xv.  3  ; 
xvii.  12-13,  27 ;  Levit.  xxv.  44-46  ;  Exod.  xxi.  1-6  ;  Eccl.  ii. 
7. — By  gift ;  an  owner  making  a  present  of  bond-men  and 
bond-women  to  another,  Gen.  xx.  14.  Conip.  xii.  16. — By 
inheritance ;  bond-men  and  bond-women  being  willed  away 
with  other  property  by  parents  to  children,  Gen.  xxv.  5  ;  xxiv. 
35-36. — And  by  voluntary  act,  the  Hebrew  servant  refusing 
to  go  out  free  when  legally  entitled  so  to  do,  Exod.  xxi.  1-8  ; 
Deut.  XV.  12-17. 

The  right  of  ownership  in  the  slave  being  created  in  either 
one  of  the  forms  now  stated,  Avas  as  perfect  and  valid  in  law 
as  the  right  to  any  other  sort  of  property  whatever.  In  the 
inventories  of  property  they  are  reckoned  as  property.  Gen. 
xxiv.  35  ;  xii.  16  ;  xx.  14 ;  Exod.  xx.  10,  17.  They  are  also 
called  an  "  inheritance,"  a  "  possession,"  and  "  money,"  Levit. 
xxv.  44-46  ;  Exod.  xxi.  21 ;  Eccl.  ii.  4-7.  When  lost,  the 
slave  could  be  sought  after,  and  claimed,  and  recovered,  as 
any  other  property.  The  angel  who  found  Ilagar  in  the 
wilderness  escaped  from  her  mistress,  directed  her  to  return, 
and  to  submit  herself  to  her  mistress,  Gen.  xvi.  6-9.     When  a 


158  THE   HISTOIIY   OF   THE   CHTTRCH   OF   GOD. 

servant  ran  away  from  liis  master,  within  tlie  territories  of  the 
twelve  tribes  or  countries  subject  to  them,  the  master  might 
pursue  after  and  recover  liim,  1  Kings  ii.  39-40,  and  1  Sam. 
XXV.  10.  And  this  right  of  property  is  recognized  by  the 
apostle  Paul,  by  his  sending  back  the  runaway  slave  Onesimus 
to  his  lawful  master,  Philemon.     Epistle  to  Philemon. 

Slaves  were  protected  in  law,  as  property,  from  abuse  and 
oppression  on  the  part  of  their  own  masters,  who,  when  guilty 
of  either  one  or  the  other,  rendered  themselves  liable  to  punish- 
ment before  the  judges,  Exod.  xxi.  20-21,  26-27 ;  Gen.  ix.  6  ; 
Numb.  XXXV.  30-33  ;  and  in  cases  of  maiming,  to  the  loss  of 
their  slaves  altogether  :  and  masters,  as  the  representatives  of 
their  servants,  could  seek  redress  for  them  in  all  cases  of 
injury  from  others,  Exod.  xxi.  32.  Nor  did  the  law  allow 
slaves  to  be  gotten  and  held,  except  in  such  a  manner  as  the 
law  itself  prescribed.  No  Hebrew  was  permitted  to  acquire  a 
slave,  either  by  violence  or  fraud  :  otherwise,  he  should  be 
put  to  death.  It  constituted  the  crime  of  "  man-stealing," 
whether  the  man  stolen  were  a  Hebrew  or  a  foreigner,  Exod. 
xxi.  16  ;  comp.  Gen.  xl.  15  ;  Deut.  xxiv.  7 ;  1  Tim.  i.  10. 

While  the  law  thus  j^rotected  the  master  in  the  possession 
of  his  servants  within  the  commonwealth  of  Israel,  a  law 
was  enacted  for  the  protection  of  slaves  escaping  into  Judca 
from  foreign  countries.  In  such  cases,  the  fugitives  were  not 
to  be  delivered  up  again  to  their  masters  (Deut.  xxiii.  15-16  ; 
comp.  1  Sam.  xxx.  15),  which  law  has  become  the  law  of 
nations  on  the  point.  No  reference  is  had  in  this  law  (as  a 
proper  interpretation  of  Deut.  xxiii.  15-16,  taken  in  connection 
with  all  the  laws  relating  to  the  institution  of  slavery  in  Israel, 
will  show)  to  slaves  within  the  territories  of  Israel,  escaping 
from  one  tribe  or  city  to  another.  If  such  were  not  to  be 
given  up,  there  would  have  been  an  end  speedily  put  to  servi- 
tude among  the  people  of  God.  If  the  foreign  slave  were  a 
criminal  fleeing  from  justice,  in  that  case,  we  presume,  he 
would  be  given  up  :  and  upon  the  principle  embraced  in  the 
laws  requiring  no  protection  to  be  given  to  criminals,  Exod. 
xxi.  14 ;  Deut.  xix.  11-13 ;  1  Kings  ii.  29-34.  And  to  con- 
clude under  this  head,  so  far  from  permitting  the  right  of  the 


SLAVERY   m   CONNECTION   WITH   THE   CHUKOH.  159 

ownership  of  slaves  to  be  invaded,  in  any  way  or  form  ;  so  far 
from  permitting  slaves  to  be  injured  or  decoyed  or  stolen 
away,  or  in  any  manner  rendered  unprofitable  to  masters,  all 
men  were  and  are  by  tlie  command  of  God  in  the  Decalogue 
forbidden  so  much  as  to  "  covet  their  neighbor's  man-servant, 
or  his  maid-servant,"  Exod.  xx.  17. 

The  right  of  ownership  in  the  slave,  according  to  the 
Scriptures,  respects  the  service  of  the  slave.  The  control  of 
his  person,  being  necessary  in  order  to  secure  his  service,  is 
lodged  with  the  master  in  the  first  instance,  and,  when  he  is 
unable  to  exercise  it  efiiciently,  with  the  civil  power  in  the 
second,  which  comes  in  to  his  aid.  The  exercise  of  this  power 
of  control  is  necessarily  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  master, 
as  to  the  time,  the  means,  and  the  extent :  but  he  is 
required  to  act  benevolently  and  humanely,  not  only  for 
interest  and  for  conscience'  sake,  but  also  for  fear  of  the  civil 
power,  which  casts  its  arms  of  protection  around  the  slave,  as 
part  of  the  body  politic. 

This  right  of  ownership,  we  may  further  remark,  according 
to  the  Scriptures,  is  in  man  as  onan.  While  the  slave  is 
reckoned  as  property,  yet,  by  the  manner  in  which  he  is 
spoken  of,  and  by  all  the  laws  regulating  his  religious  instruc- 
tion and  training,  and  his  treatment,  he  is  not  viewed  in  the 
light  of  a  mere  dumb  animal,  or  a  mere  chattel :  but  he  is 
a  man ;  a  fellow-being ;  having  the  attributes,  the  connec- 
tions, the  hopes,  the  fears,  the  joys  and  sorrows  common  to 
humanity,  although  in  a  subordinate  condition  in  society,  and 
not  upon  a  social  or  civil  equality  with  his  master.  In  his 
station  and  circumstances,  he  is  to  be  respected  and  treated  as 
a  man  ;  and  have  accorded  to  him  all  the  rights,  privileges, 
protection,  and  enjoyments,  which  are  compatible  witli  that 
station,  and  with  those  circumstances.  The  authority  of  the 
master  over  hira  is  perfect  within  his  appropriate  sphere  as  a 
master.  He  cannot  command,  nor  in  any  manner  require  his 
servant  either  to  do  or  to  suffer  that  which  would  be  criminal 
before  God  and  man  ;  or  injurious  to  him  in  mind,  body, 
family,  or  estate.  He  is  under  obligation  to  do  to  him  as  he 
would  wish  to  be  done  by,  wero  he  in  the  like  condition  and 


160  THE   HISTOKT   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

circumstances.  On  tlio  other  liand,  the  obligations  and  duties 
of  the  slave  are  pressed  upon  him  as  a  man.  The  Scriptures 
do  not  sit  in  judgment  upon  the  justice  of  tlie  origin  or  nature 
of  the  governments  under  which  men  live  ;  nor  upon  the 
riirhteousness  or  unrio-hteousness  of  their  administration  :  but 
they  uniformly  recognize  "  the  powers  that  be  as  ordained  of 
God,"  and  therefore,  because  of  Divine  ordination  and  author- 
ity, they  are  to  be  obeyed  under  penalty  of  Divine  displeasure, 
Servants  are  rational  and  accountable  creatures  of  God,  and 
are  to  render  obedience  to  those  who  are  set  in  authority  over 
them :  not  only  that  they  may  approve  themselves  to  God, 
and  to  the  consciences  of  men,  but  that  they  may  also  escape 
wrath.  Herein  are  they  regarded  by  God,  although  in  a 
servile  and  dependent  condition,  as  "  the  possession,"  "  the 
money,"  of  their  masters,  yet  not  as  the  brutes  that  perish, 
nor  as  mere  senseless  goods  and  chattels,  but  as  men.  What- 
ever changes  and  vicissitudes  they  may  pass  through  as  "  the 
possession  "  or  "  money  "  of  men,  they  are  "  hond-7nen  "  and 
"  hond-women,^^  and  are  so  considered  and  treated  all  the 
Bible  through. 

Slavery  among  the  people  of  God  was  both  temjporary  and 
perjpetxial^  according  to  the  national  character  of  the  slaves 
themselves. 

The  temporary  slaves  were  of  Hebrew  origin ;  and  made 
slaves  by  poverty,  crime,  or  voluntary  act.  Tlicy  could  be 
lield  in  servitude  by  their  brethren  but  six  years  only  ;  in 
the  seventh  year  they  were  to  be  set  free,  and  with  special 
rewards  and  gifts,  on  the  score  not  only  of  brotherhood,  accord- 
ing to  the  flesh,  but  also  of  justice,  since  the  labor  of  a  slave 
was  more  profitable  to  the  master  than  that  of  a  hired 
servant,  for  the  master  paid  him  no  wages  for  his  work,  Deut. 
XV.  12-18.  If  the  slave  was  unmarried,  he  should  be  set  free 
unmarried  ;  if  married,  and  his  wife  had  shared  his  servitude 
with  him,  then  he  should  go  out  with  his  wife  and  family. 
But  if,  during  the  period  of  his  servitude,  he  married  a  per- 
petual slave,  belonging  to  his  master,  he  alone  should  go  out 
free,  and  his  family  would  remain  as  they  were,  the  perpetual 
possession  of  their  master.     In  this  case,  however,  should  the 


SLAVERY   IN   CONNECTION   -WITH   THE   CHUECn,  161 

Hebrew  husband  and  father,  from  affection  to  his  master  and 
his  wife  and  children,  refuse  his  right  of  going  out  free,  and 
prefer  remaining  in  his  condition,  his  master  should  bring  him 
before  the  judges,  and,  the  fact  of  his  voluntary  subjection 
being  established,  in  lasting  evidence  of  it  he  should  bore  his 
ear  through  with  an  awl ;  and  he  should  then  serve  him  for- 
ever, and  have  no  more  right  to  go  out  tree  at  the  end  of 
every  six  years,  Exod.  xxi.  1-6.  And  this  law  applied  equally 
to  female  slaves  in  like  circumstances,  Deut.  xv.  17.  "  Unto 
thy  maidservant  thou  shalt  do  likewise." 

But  a  servant  of  this  sort,  it  appears  after  all,  should, 
together  with  his  family,  be  set  free  at  the  year  of  jubilee ; 
and  for  the  reason  that  a  Hebrew  should  never  be  viewed  in 
the  light  of  a  "  bond-man "  or  "  bond-servant,"  but  as  a 
"  hired  servant,"  a  sojourner,  a  temporary  slave,  by  his 
brethren,  Levit.  xxv.  39-43. 

The  Lord  says,  "  They  are  my  servants,  which  I  brought 
forth  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  they  shall  not  be  sold  as  bond- 
men," or  with  the  sale  of  a  bond-man,  Levit.  xxv.  1—16  ;  that 
is,  to  be  held  in  perpetual  bondage,  as  the  Lord  immediately 
explains :  "  But  thy  bond-men  and  thy  bond-maids  which 
thou  shalt  have,  shall  be  of  the  heathen  round  about  you  :  of 
them  shall  ye  buy  bond-men  and  bond-maids.  Moreover,  of 
the  children  of  the  strangers  that  do  sojourn  among  you,  of 
them  shall  ye  buy,  and  of  their  families  that  are  v\'ith  you, 
which  they  begat  in  your  land  :  and  they  shall  be  your  pos- 
session. And  ye  shall  take  them  as  an  inheritance  for  your 
children  after  you,  to  inherit  them  for  a  possession  :  they  shall 
be  your  bond-men  forever  ;  but  over  your  brethren,  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  ye  shall  not  rule  one  over  another  with  rigor," 
Levit.  xxv.  44-46.  In  this  passage,  a  distinction  is  drawn 
between  Hebrew  and  foreign  slaves ;  and  between  the  terras 
on  which  they  severally  could  be  held  to  service :  the  Hebrews 
for  six  years  only  at  a  time,  and  under  no  circumstances 
beyond  the  year  of  jubilee;  while  slaves  of  foreign  nations 
might  be  held  as  a  possession  in  perpetual  bondage,  and 
become  the  inheritance  of  parents  and  children  from  genera- 
tion to  generation.  The  year  of  jubilee  had,  in  its  provisions 
11 


162  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF    GOD. 

of  liberty  to  tlie  enslaved,  no  reference  whatever  to  them. 
They  never  went  ont  free. 

In  accordance  with  this  law,  that  Israelites  should,  not  be 
held  in  perpetual  bondage,  provision  is  made  of  a  right  of 
redemption  to  any  Hebrew  who  had  waxed  poor  and  sold 
himself  to  a  stranger  or  a  foreigner  dwelling  in  Judea.  If 
unable  to  redeem  himself,  any  one  near  of  kin  might  redeem 
him,  and  at  any  time  previous  to  the  year  of  jubilee  :  and  if 
not  redeemed  before  then,  at  the  jubilee  he  should  have  his 
freedom :  and  for  the  reason  that  he  is  the  servant  of  God, 
redeemed  out  of  Egypt,  and  therefore  must  never  be  ruled 
over  with  rigor,  and  held  in  perpetual  bondage,  Levit.  xxv. 
47-55  ;  and  because  the  children  of  Israel  disregarded  the 
law  regulating  the  enslavement  of  their  brethren,  and  would 
not  release  them  at  the  times  appointed,  but  endeavored  to 
keep  them  in  perpetual  bondage,  the  anger  of  the  Lord  was 
kindled  against  them  in  the  days  of  Jeremiah  the  prophet, 
xxxiv.  8-17  ;  and  for  this  great  sin,  among  many  others,  He 
visited  them  with  the  sword,  with  pestilence  and  famine,  and 
removed  them  out  of  their  good  land,  and  made  them  captives 
in  all  kingdoms  of  the  earth. 

The  perpetual  slaves  were  of  foreign  origin,  obtained  from 
the  heathen  nations  round  about.  These,  according  to  Levit. 
xxv.  44,  46,  already  referred  to,  miglit  be,  and  were  held  in 
perpetual  servitude  from  father  to  son,  and  descended  in  fami- 
lies, like  any  other  property,  from  generation  to  generation. 
They  were  bought,  sold,  given,  and  willed  awa}'^  like  any  other 
property.  They  were  the  possession,  the  money  of  their 
owners,  as  were  their  silver  and  gold,  and  flocks  and  herds. 
The  idea  that  the  Scriptures  make  a  difference  between  servants 
and  other  property,  and  that  they  were  not  accounted  property, 
is  puerile,  and  in  the  face  of  positive  declarations  to  the  con- 
trary. Exod.  xii,  5,  16  ;  xx.  14 ;  xxiv.  35  :  xxvi.  13,  14 ; 
xxxii.  1-5;  xxxvi.  6-7;  Job  i.  1-13;  xxxi.  13-15.  The 
increase  of  servants  born  in  the  house  and  bought  with  money 
is  reckoned  among  the  special  blessings  of  God  upon  the  pos- 
sessions of  men.  Gen.  xxiii.  35  ;  Job.  i.  1-3  ;  Gen.  xxxii.  1-5  ; 
xxxiii.  10-11 ;  xxvi.  12-14.     The  foreign  slaves,  in  all  religi- 


SLAVERY    IN    CONNECTION   WITn   THE    CHURCU.  163 

ously  trained  bouseliolds  in  Israel,  were  circumcised  and 
brouglit  lip  in  the  knowlcd.i>;e  and  worsliip  of  God,  but  their 
profession  of  religion  and  membership  with  the  church  had  no 
effect  upon  their  civil  condition.  They  remained  in  perpetual 
servitude.  This  fact  obtained  also  with  slaves  in  the  time  of 
our  Lord  and  his  Apostles. 

The  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament — the  oldest 
records  in  the  world — furnish  no  information  of  the  jprccise 
period  in  the  history  of  our  race  in  which  the  institution  of 
slavery  took  its  rise.  Slavery  is  first  mentioned  as  a  curee : 
a  curse  to  be  visited  in  the  lapse  of  time  upon  Ham  and  his 
descendants,  Gen.  ix.  20-29. 

Tlie  institution  sprang  up  between  the  uttering  of  this 
curse  and  the  age  of  Job.  It  existed  in  the  age  of  Job,  i. 
1-3  ;  iii.  19  ;  xix.  16  ;  xxxi.  13-15.  We  believe  Job  to  have 
"been  cotemporary  with  Serug,  and  Senig  was  born  193  years 
after  the  flood.  If  we  are  right  in  our  chronology,  then 
slavery  was  introduced  about  200  years  after  the  flood.  The 
precise  manner  is  as  much  unknown  as  the  precise  time  of  its 
introduction.  It  owed  its  origin,  no  doubt,  to  the  weaknesses 
and  necessities  of  men,  which  placed  them  either  voluntarily 
or  involuntarily  in  the  power,  and  finally  in  the  absolute 
possession  of  those  more  mighty  and  more  independent  than 
themselves.  It  was  extensively  prevalent  in  the  days  of 
Abraham  ;  indeed,  it  is  a  form  of  governmeni  which  has  pre- 
vailed almost  in  all  nations,  and  in  every  quarter  of  the  world, 
from  his  time  to  the  present.  Once  introduced,  it  spread  on 
every  hand.     Such  is  tlie  testimony  of  history. 

Since  the  days  of  Job,  the  Church  of  God  has  had  connec- 
tion with  this  institution.  It  has  never  known  an  hour  in  its 
existence  that  it  did  not  embrace  in  its  membership  masters 
and  servants.  The  visible  Church  of  God,  set  up  in  the  family 
and  household  of  Abraham,  held  slaves  in  its  communion 
down  to  the  coming  of  the  Lord.  They  appear  in  that  same 
visible  Church  after  Christ  ascended  to  Heaven ;  in  the 
churches  gathered  by  the  Apostles  wherever  they  went  preac  i- 
ing  the  Gospel  to  every  creature.  They  met  the  system  in  all 
climes.     It  prevailed  over  the  Roman  Empire.     It  survived 


1G4:  THE    HISTOKY    OF   THE    CUUECH    OF    GOD. 

the  division  of  that  Empire,  and  when  both  the  Eastern  and 
Western  Empires  were  brolcen  into  many  kingdoms,  it  sm*- 
vived  in  them  all,  and  finally  passed  away  by  slow  and  almost 
imperceptible  degrees  from  all  the  kingdoms  of  Europe  except 
Russia  and  Turkey.  It  exists  in  Asia.  Africa  is  a  house 
of  bondage.  ISTot  long  after  the  discovery  of  America  in  1492, 
it  was  introduced  both  into  North  and  South  America,  and 
while  it  has  ceased  in  many  portions  of  South  America,  it  still 
covers  vast  areas  of  territory  in  both  North  and  South  Amer- 
ica. Christianity  has  met  with  the  institution  wherever  it  has 
gone,  and  in  her  progress  must  continue  to  meet  it.  She  has 
carried  her  message  of  salvation  alike  to  servant  and  master, 
and  of  both  classes  has  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  gathered 
multitudes  into  his  kingdom,  to  be  with  him  in  glory  forever. 

The  institution  of  slavery  is  sanctioned  in  hothiho  Old  and 
the  New  Testament. 

For  in  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  is  it  in  any  manner 
condemned  by  God.  Had  the  institution  been  in  itself  sinful, 
the  condemnation  of  the  Holy  One  would  have  fallen,  and 
with  distinctness,  upon  it,  as  upon  all  sin;  and,  on  the  just 
principle  that  all  sin  should  be  abandoned.  He  would  have 
required  his  people,  as  much  as  in  them  lay,  immediately  or 
prospectively,  to  put  an  end  to  the  institution,  or  rid  them- 
selves of  all  connection  with  it.  If  the  relation  of  master  and 
servant  is  in  itself  sinful,  it  is  incredible  that  the  Holy  One, 
who  hates  sin  in  every  form,  should  in  no  single  instance  in  all 
His  Word  declare  it  to  be  so.  It  is  incredible  that  our  Lord, 
who  made  known  the  w^ay  of  God  in  truth,  and  cared  for  no 
man,  should  never  condemn  it ;  no,  nor  His  holy  Apostles 
and  ministers,  who  partook  of  His  bold  and  fearless  spirit,  and 
even  laid  down  their  lives  for  the  truth. 

On  the  contrary,  the  institution  is  recognized  as  existing 
among  men,  and  the  Lord  sanctioned  it  both  in  its  temporal 
and  pei-petual  form.  He  regulated  the  temporary  servitude 
of  his  own  people,  and  not  only  permitted,  but  connnandcd 
his  people,  if  they  desired  slave  property,  to  purchase  slaves 
from  foreign  nations,  and  to  hold  them  for  a  perpetual  posses- 
sion for  themselves  and  their  children  after  them.     The  insti- 


SLAVERY   IN   CONNECTION   •WTTH   THE   CHURCH.  166 

tution  is  recognized  in  the  fourth,  and  again  in  the  tenth  com- 
mandment, and  the  Lord  secures  the  lawful  possession  and  use 
of  the  slave  to  his  master  by  forbidding,  upon  penalty  of  his 
displeasure,  even  the  "  coveting  "  of  that  slave  by  his  neigh- 
bor. If  marriage  is  recognized  in  tliose  commands,  and  the 
relation  of  husband  and  wife,  parent  and  child,  as  lawful,  so 
are  slavery  and  the  relation  of  master  and  servant  recognized 
as  lawful.  We  repeat  it,  that  if  slavery  be  in  itself  sinful,  it 
is  incredible  that  the  Holy  and  Just  One  should  give  His 
unreserved  sanction  to  and  perpetuation  of  it,  both  in  the 
common  law  given  to  his  people,  and  in  the  ten  command- 
ments, which  are  binding  for  all  time  upon  the  whole  race  of 
men. 

There  is,  moreover,  no  condemnation  of  any  one  child  of 
God,  or  man  of  the  world,  for  holding  the  relation  either  of 
master  or  servant.  No  one  is  condemned,  or  abused,  or 
threatened,  or  unchurched,  for  being  connected  with  the 
institution.  Some  of  the  most  eminent  saints  were  slave- 
holders. They  were  accounted  the  friends  of  God,  the  pat- 
terns of  faith  and  holiness,  and  the  lights  of  the  world.  Such 
men  were  Job,  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  the  people  of 
God  in  the  Church  down  to  the  coming  of  our  Lord.  The 
churches  which  held  in  their  communion  masters  and  servants, 
and  which  were  gathered  by  the  Apostles,  are  most  highly 
commended  for  "  their  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  and  love  to  all  the 
saints."  Col.  i.  3-5  ;  iii.  22  ;  iv.  1 ;  and  Eph.  i.  15-23  ;  vi. 
5,  9.  They  were  those  who  had  experienced  "  the  grace  of 
God  which  is  given  us  by  Jesus  Christ :  "  they  were  "  en- 
riched by  him  in  all  utterance  and  in  all  knowledge  :  "  they 
"  came  behind  "  other  churches  "  in  no  gift,"  1.  Cor.  i.  3-7 ; 
vii.  21 ;  and  would  be  "  the  rejoicing '-'  of  the  Apostles  "  in 
the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  2  Cor.  i.  13-lG.  They  were 
brethren  beloved,  "  the  elect  of  God,"  1  Pet.  i.  2 ;  ii.  18. 
And  of  Philemon,  the  master  and  owner  of  Onesimus,  what 
commendation  have  we  ?  The  Apostle  Paul  calls  him,  in  the 
ardor  of  his  affection,  "  our  dearly  beloved  and  fellow-laborer." 
He  "  thanked  God  "  for  him  and  "  mentioned  him  always  in 
his  prayers,"  "  hearing  of  his  love  and  faith  which  he  had 


166  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUKCH    OF    GOD. 

toward  the  Lord  Jesus  and  toward  all  saints."  He  was  one 
of  the  Apostle's  own  converts,  Philemon  v.  19.  It  is  j)robable 
that  at  his  master's  house  Onesimus  became  acquainted  with 
the  Apostle,  and  when  he  ran  awaj  and  went  to  Rome  he 
searched  Paul  out  and  renewed  the  acquaintance,  and  became 
a  convert  to  Christ  under  his  faithful  preaching  and  admoni- 
tions. Philemon,  although  he  had  an  unprofitable  servant, 
was  a  truly  Christian,  master,  and  had  a  "  church  in  his 
house,"  whose  "  love  refreshed  the  saints,"  and  in  whom  the 
Apostle  had  every  "  confidence,"  receiving  "  great  joy  and  con- 
solation in  his  faith,"  Philemon  vs.  21,  1-25. 

Masters  and  servants  were  admitted  to  full  and  lasting 
membership  with  the  Clnirch  of  God  in  all  ages.  In  fact,  the 
original  members  of  the  visible  Church  as  organized  and  set 
up  in  the  family  and  household  of  Abraham,  were  the  bond 
and  the  free,  masters  and  servants.  The  mere  fact  of  holding 
slaves  never  excluded  any  man  from  the  church.  No  question 
of  this  sort  was  ever  mooted.  Kot  a  word  is  said  to  masters 
of  the  injustice  and  sinfulness  of  holding  men  in  bondage,  nor 
to  servants  of  their  right  to  freedom,  and  to  break  away  from 
servitude  whenever  they  might  be  able  to  do  so.  ISTo  com- 
plaints are  made  of  the  system  as  injurious  to  the  graces  of 
Christians  ;  or  as  subversive  of  religion,  and  consequently 
detrimental  to  the  spirituality  and  purity  of  churches.  As 
already  observed,  the  churches  which  embraced  in  their  com- 
munion masters  and  servants,  are  approved  and  commended 
by  the  Apostles,  1  Cor.  xii.  13  ;  Gal.  iii.  27-28  ;  Col.  iii.  10- 
11 ;  Eph.  vi.  5-9.  Even  the  very  priests  themselves,  the 
sacred  ministers  of  God,  who  served  at  the  altar  in  all  holy 
things,  owned  slaves,  who  were  both  "  bought  with  their 
money,"  and  "  born  in  their  house,"  Levit.  xxii.  11 ;  Judges 
xix.  3-9  ;  1  Sam.  ii.  13. 

The  relations  of  master  and  servant  are  recognized  as  are 
those  of  husband  and  wife,  parent  and  child,  king  and  sub- 
ject ;  and  members  of  the  church  are  exhorted  and  com- 
manded, upon  evangelical  motives,  faithfully  and  truly  to 
perform  towards  each  other  the  duties  growing  out  of  those 
relations,  if  they  would  ap])rove  themselves  the  true  disciples 


SLAVERY    IN    CONNECTION   WITH    THE   CIIUECH.  1G7 

of  Christ,  Epli.  vi.  1-9  ;  Col.  iii.  22-25  ;  iv.  1  ;  1  Tim.  vi. 
1-5  ;  Titus  ii.  9-15  ;  1  Pet.  ii.  18-25. 

We  may  add  tliat  our  Lord  himsell'inet  witli  the  institution 
of  slavery  in  his  ministry  on  earth,  and  has  left  no  condemna- 
tion of  it  as  in  itself  un^'ust  towards  men  and  sinful  towards 
God.  The  Centurion  is  praised  for  his  remarkable  humility 
and  faith  :  the  Saviour  heals  his  gick  servant  and  gives  him 
all  the  comfort  and  advantage  of  his  services,  once  more 
restored  to  health  and  strength,  Matt.  viii.  G-13  ;  Luke  vii. 
1-10.  In  his  preaching  and  teaching  he  at  certain  times  had 
the  relation  of  master  and  servant  in  his  eye,  and  some  of  his 
most  impressive  illustrations  are  drawn  fi-om  it,  Matt,  xviii. 
21-35  ;  Luke  xii.  47  ;  xvii.  7-9  ;  John  xiii.  16  ;  xv.  15. 

The  Apostle  Paul,  encountering  the  institution  in  his 
ministry,  has  trodden  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Master.  In  a 
part  of  his  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  vii.  17-24,  he 
exhorts  every  Christian  to  glorify  God  in  that  particular 
condition  in  which  he  is  placed  by  His  providence.  "  Art 
thou  called,"  that  is,  to  the  gracious  state  and  exalted 
privileges  of  the  Christian,  "  being  a  servant,"  or  slave  ? 
What  then  ?  Does  Christianity  oblige  your  master  to  free 
you  ?  'No.  Does  it  absolve  you  from  your  civil  obligations 
to  your  master  ?  No.  Your  condition  is  unchanged :  you 
are  a  servant  still.  What  then  ?  "  Art  thou  called  being  a 
servant?  Care  not  for  it."  Let  not  this  humble  and  dependent 
state  disturb  you.  All  I  say  in  relation  to  it  is  this  :  "  If  thou 
mayest  be  free,  use  it  rather."  Be  free  if  you  lawfully  can 
and  desire  to  be  so  ;  but  if  not,  then  care  not  for  it.  Your 
servitude  is  temporary  only  :  it  will  not  prevent  your  saving 
your  soul  in  it.  "  The  time  "  allotted  for  us  here  on  earth 
''  is  short."  "  The  fashion  of  this  world  passeth  away,"  1 
Cor.  vii.  29-31.  Bond  or  free,  you  are  Christ's,  and  all  the 
benefits  of  his  salvation  are  yours.  "  For  he  that  is  called  in 
the  Lord,  being  his  servant,  is  the  Lord's  freeman :  likewise 
he  that  is  called  being  free  is  Christ's  servant."  "  Ye  are 
bought  with  a  price."  Christ  has  purchased  you  with  a  price 
— even  his  precious  blood.  He,  now  and  forever,  is  your  Lord 
and  Master  in  Heaven.      "  Be  not   the  servants "  or  slaves 


168  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

"  of  men ; "  that  is  to  say,  in  your  condition  discharge  not 
your  duties  as  the  slaves  of  men  simply,  looking  no  higher  for 
approbation  and  reward  than  the  hand  of  the  master.  "  Ye 
are  bought  with  a  price."  Ye  are  Christ's  freemen,  therefore 
with  good-will  do  your  service  as  unto  the  Lord,  and  not  unto 
men  only,  Col.  iii.  22-25  ;  Eph.  vi.  5-8.  And  ye  shall,  for 
the  good  that  ye  do,  receive  a  reward  of  the  Lord.  How  does 
the  Apostle  conclude  ?  "  Brethren,  let  every  man,  wherein  he 
is  called,  therein  abide  with  God."  How  could  he  exhort 
servants  to  abide  in  servitude,  serving  God  therein,  if  that 
condition  was  unjust  and  sinful  ?  Was  not  this  the  time  and 
the  place  for  him  to  have  given  other  views  and  other  counsels 
of  a  perfectly  opposite  character  to  the  church  and  the  world, 
if  he  had  believed  slavery  to  be  in  itself  sinful  ?  He  has  not 
done  it. 

He  comes  in  contact — direct  contact — with  the  system  again 
in  the  case  of  the  runaway  slave  Onesimus  already  mentioned. 
Does  he  condemn  the  system  as  unlawful  ?  and  pronounce 
Philemon  a  guilty  man  because  a  master  ?  l^o.  By  the  laws  of 
God  given  to  his  people  anciently,  and  by  the  Eonian  laws  under 
which  Philemon  lived,  he  could  pursue  Onesimus  and  recover 
him  wherever  he  should  find  him  within  the  boundaries  of  the 
Empire :  and  it  was  the  duty  of  all  authorities  to  give  him 
aid  in  his  apjjrehension  and  recovery.  Does  Paul  deny  the 
justice  of  these  laws  ?  Does  he  refuse  to  deliver  up  Onesi- 
mus ?  Does  he  advise  him  never  to  return  to  his  master,  and 
aid  and  abet  his  final  escape  ?  No.  He  acknowledges  the 
right  of  Philemon,  as  a  master,  to  the  control  of  the  person, 
and  to  the  benefit  of  the  labors  of  Onesimus  his  slave,  and  he 
sends  him  back  to  his  master  with  a  letter  of  kind  intercession 
and  commendation. 

Thus  have  we  the  institution,  wliich  existed  in  the  family'- 
of  Abraham,  sanctioned  both  in  the  Old  and  in  the  New 
Testaments. 

The  duties  growing  out  of  the  relation  of  master  ar.d 
servant  are  clearly  defined  and  enjoined  in  the  Word  of  God. 

In  the  constitution  of  His  visible  church  in  Abraham,  the 
Lord  included  the  servants,  as  well  as  the  children  of  believing 


SLAVERY   IN   CONNECTION   WITH    THE   CnURCH.  169 

parents.  The  sign  of  the  covenant  was  made  in  their  flesh, 
and  all  the  privileges  and  blessings  of  that  covenant  were 
opened  to  them.  They  were  to  be  trained  up  within  the  pale 
of  the  church  in  tlie  knowledge  and  fear  of  God.  "  He  that  is 
born  in  the  house,  or  bought  with  the  money  of  the  stranger, 
which  is  not  of  thy  seed,  must  needs  be  circumcised,"  Gen. 
xvii.  12-23.  Abraham  "  in  the  selfsame  day  circumcised  his 
son  Ishmael  and  all  that  were  born  in  his  house,  and  all  that 
were  bought  with  his  money."  He  apprehended  the  will  of 
God  as  expressed  toward  children  and  servants  in  the  cove- 
nant, and  performed  it  well.  He  received  the  approbation  of 
God :  "  for  I  know  him  that  he  will  command  his  children 
and  his  houseliold  after  him,  and  they  shall  keep  the  way  of 
the  Lord  to  do  justice  and  judgment,  that  the  Lord  may  bring 
upon  Abraham  that  which  he  hath  spoken  of  him,"  Gen. 
xviii.  19.  Abraham  is  the  example  of  all  masters  of  families 
in  all  ages. 

The  rest  of  the  Sabbath  was  secured  in  the  fourth  com- 
mandment to  servants  :  to  the  "  man-servant "  and  the  "  maid- 
servant :  "  and,  by  consequence,  all  the  spiritual  privileges  and 
instruction  of  a  private  and  of  a  public  iiature.  They  were  to 
meet  around  the  family  altar  of  sacrifice,  and  prayer  and 
praise,  and  they  were  to  attend  the  synagogue,  and  when  pos- 
sible the  temple  service,  Exod.  xx.  8-11. 

They  were  required  to  be  present  at  the  sacred  feasts  and 
festivals  of  the  church  with  the  rest  of  the  family.  For  ex- 
ample, at  the  Passover.  The  command  of  God  to  his  people 
was,  "  Every  man-servailt  that  is  bought  for  money,  when 
thou  liast  circumcised  him,  shall  eat  of  it,"  Exod.  xii.  44. 
And  again  at  the  "  Feast  of  Weeks  "  or  "  Pentecost,"  Deut. 
xvi.  9-12.  And  at  the  "  Feast  of  Tabernacles,"  Deut.  xvi. 
13-16.  "  Thou  shalt  rejoice  before  the  Lord  thy  God,  thou, 
and  thy  son,  and  thy  daughter,  and  thy  man-servant,  add  thy 
maid-servant,"  Deut.  xvi.  11-14.  Moreover,  servants  were  to 
accompany  their  owners  to  public  worship  whenever  they 
went  up  to  worship  God  in  the  appointed  place,  to  present 
and  eat  before  the  Lord,  "  the  tithe  of  thy  corn  and  of  thy 
wine  and  of  thy  oil ;   or  the  firstlings  of  thy  herds  or  of  thy 


170  TnE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHUECH    OF   GOD. 

Hocks  ;  thy  free-will  offerings  or  heave-offerings  of  thine  hand. 
TJioii  shalt  eat  them  before  the  Lord,  thou,  and  thy  son,  and 
thy  daugliter,  and  thy  man-servant,  and  th}^  maid-servant," 
Dent.  xii.  13-18. 

At  the  renewing  of  the  covenant  just  before  Israel  crossed 
the  Jordan  and  took  possession  of  the  promised  land,  the 
whole  congregation  was  present,  as  well  the  stranger  as  the 
hewer  of  wood  and  the  drawer  of  water,  Deut.  xxix.  1-13  ; 
2  Chron.  xxxiv.  30-31.  And  in  those  yast  and  solemn  assem- 
blies, convened  every  seven  years  at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles 
to  hear  the  whole  law  of  the  Lord  read  and  explained  and 
enforced,  servants  were  present  with  the  families  to  which 
they  belonged,  Deut.  xxxi.  10-13. 

According  to  these  statements  of  the  Old  Testament, 
servants  were  reckoned  a  j)art  of  the  household  and  a  part 
of  the  church :  tliey  were  the  immortal  and  accountable 
creatures  of  God.  And  one  of  the  first  duties  of  masters  was 
that  they  should  recognize  and  feel  towards  them  as  such. 
They  were  "  brethren  in  the  flesh,  and  also  in  the  Lord," 
Philemon  vs.  16  ;  alike  "  j^artakers  of  the  benefit "  of  grace 
and  eternal  life,  1  Tim.  vi.  1-2.  The  same  God  is  the  Creator, 
Saviour,  and  Judge  of  both  masters  and  servants,  and  there  is 
no  respect  of  persons  with  Him,  Job  xxxi.  13-15.  Masters 
should,  therefore,  faithfully,  in  their  households,  command 
their  servants;  bring  them  authoritatively  under  i-eligior..-, 
instruction  and  the  la^v  of  God,  that  they  may  learn  and 
keep  the  way  of  the  Lord,  and  understand  also  and  do  tlieir 
duty  to  men  in  their  station  with  all  justice  and  fidelity.  Gen. 
xviii.  19.  The  unbroken  rest  of  the  Sabbath  should  be  al- 
lowed them,  and  free  access  to  every  means  of  grace  ;  no  obsta- 
cles should  be  thrown  in  the  way  of  their  spiritual  instruction 
and  improvement ;  and  no  commands  be  laid  upon  them,  or 
duties  required  of  them  inconsistent  with  the  law  of  the  Lord. 

Servants  are  recognized  also  as  a  part  of  the  household  and 
of  civil  society,  and  therefore  claiming  at  the  hands  of  their 
masters,  in  all  temporal  affairs,  protection  from  all  oppression 
and  abuse,  and  injury  in  person  or  family,  or  in  property 
(masters  are  their  representatives   and  guardians) ;  also  pro- 


SLAVEEY   IN   CONNECTION   Wrrn   THE    CHURCH.  171 

vision  in  dwellings,  raiment,  food  ;  opportunities  and  means 
of  making  something  of  their  own  for  their  comfort  and  enjoy- 
ment ;  and  provision  in  seasons  of  sickness  and  distress,  and 
in  time  of  old  age.  They  claim  from  their  masters  also  con- 
siderate, and  kind,  and  forbearing  treatment ;  that  the  labors 
exacted  of  them  be  not  oppressive,  nor  consuming  to  the 
spirits,  nor  destructive  to  life,  but  such  as  are  just  and  easily 
and  safely  performed  ;  that  their  intercourse  with  them  be 
not  distant,  disdainful,  aud  morose,  but  condescending  and 
kind ;  that  they  forbear  threatening,  and  frequent  and  cruel 
punishments,  and  temper  their  justice  with  mercy  ;  that  they 
take  a  true  interest  in  the  families  of  their  servants,  and  pre- 
serve them  from  invasion  of  wicked  men  ;  and  from  being 
separated  as  husbands  and  wives,  parents  and  children,  and 
finally,  see  that  all  servants  of  the  household  dwell  together 
virtuously,  temperately,  justly,  and  peaceably. 

All  these  duties  of  masters  are  distinctly,  or  by  implica- 
tion and  direct  inference,  repeated  in  the  ISTew  Testament. 
Therein  are  servants  reckoned  as  members  of  the  household, 
of  the  church,  and  of  civil  society :  and  therein  are  duties 
required  of  masters,  according  to  these  different  lights  in 
which  their  servants  are  viewed,  Gal.  iii.  26-28  ;  Eph.  vi.  8  ; 
Col.  iii.  10-11 ;  Eph.  vi.  9  ;  Col.  iv.  1 ;  Luke  xvii.  7-9  ;  xiii. 
47-48  ;  vii.  2-10. 

The  duties  of  servants  to  their  masters  are  defined  with 
equal  precision  in  both  Testaments.  And  those  duties  are 
reverential  fear  and  honor,  as  to  a  rnler,  lawgiver,  and  judge, 
Mai.  i.  6  ;  Eccl.  vii.  21  ;  1  Tim.  vi.  1-2  ;  1  Pet.  ii.  18 ;  afiec- 
tion,  as  to  a  father  and  friend,  Exod.  xxi.  5  ;  cheerful  obedi- 
ence. Gen.  xvi.  9  ;  xxiv.  1-65  ;  Job  xix.  16  ;  Matt.  viii.  9  ; 
Eph.  vi.  5-8  ;  Col.  iii.  22-25  ;  Titus  ii.  9  ;  fidelity.  Gen.  xxiv. 
1-65  ;  xxxix.  1-6  ;  Eph.  vi.  6  ;  Col.  iii.  22  ;  1  Tim.  vi.  2  ; 
Titus,  ii.  10  ;  1  Pet.  ii.  39  ;  Philemon  ;  and  honesty,  2  Kings 
V.  20-27  ;  Titus  ii.  10. 

The  inculcation  of  these  duties  upon  masters  and  servants 
is  made  the  business  of  the  ministers  of  God.  And  the  fulfil- 
ment of  these  duties  is  essential  to  the  Christian  character  of 
masters  and  servants.     The  Apostle  Paul  affirms  that  to  teach 


1Y2  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

servants  their  duties  is  "  consenting  to  wholesome  words  ;  the 
words  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  to  the  doctrine  which  is 
according  to  godliness,"  And  "  if  any  man  teach  otherwise  " 
— deny  and  ahsolve  servants  from  their  duties — the  Apostle 
brands  him  as  "  proud,  knowing  nothing ;  but  doting  about 
questions  and  strifes  of  words,  whereof  cometh  envy,  strife, 
railings,  evil  surmisings,  perverse  disputings  of  men  of  cor- 
rupt minds,  and  destitute  of  the  truth,  supposing  that  gain  is 
godliness  :  "  and  he  commands  Timothy,  and  through  him,  all 
godly  ministers  and  persons,  "  From  such  withdraw  thyself." 
i  Tim.  vi.  1-5. 

The  Church  of  God  has  been  in  connection  with  the  insti- 
tution of  slavery  from  the  days  of  Abraham  to  the  days  of  the 
Apostles,  over  2000  years,  and  has  had  since  the  Apostles,  and 
still  has,  in  some  parts  of  the  world,  a  connection  with  it.  It 
is  therefore  very  proper  for  us  to  learn  from  the  word  of  God 
itself,  which  we  have  now  been  carefully  examining,  what  are 
the  duties  of  the  Church  towards  the  institution  and  towards 
those  involved  in  it. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  Church,  then,  according  to  the  teach- 
ings of  God's  holy  Word  : 

To  maintain  the  lawfulness  of  the  institution  of  slavery  as 
one  of  the  forms  of  civil  government,  ordained  of  God  in  His 
Providential  government  over  the  world. 

To  abstain  from  pronouncing  that  institution  to  be  sinful 
which  God  has  everywhere  sustained  ;  and  from  making  a 
renunciation  of  all  connection  with  it  a  term  of  Church  mem- 
bership and  a  test  of  Christian  character  to  mankind,  which 
God  has  nowhere  done. 

To  abstain  from  all  denial  of,  or  interference  in  the  right 
of  the  property  of  masters  in  their  servants,  which  is  perfect, 
both  under  the  divine  and  civil  law  ;  and  from  inciting  ser- 
vants to  acts  of  infidelity,  dishonesty,  or  rebellion,  or  enticing 
them  from  service,  and  in  any  way  or  form  preventing  their 
return  to  their  duty,  and  thereby  robbing  masters  of  their 
property. 

To  obey  all  the  laws  and  regulations  of  the  State,  enacted 
in  relation  to  the  institution. 


PLAVEEY   IN   CONNECTION  VnTH   THE   CHntCn.  173 

To  maintain  the  perfect  compatibility  of  the  relation  of 
master  and  servant  witli  true  religion,  and  with  a  credible 
profession  of  Christianity. 

To  receive,  upon  a  credible  profession,  both  the  bond  and 
the  free  into  the  communion  of  the  Church,  as  brethi'en 
beloved  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  equally  entitled  to  all  the 
privileges  of  His  people. 

To  make  a  just  and  necessary  distinction  between  the 
abuses  of  the  institution  and  the  institution  itself:  between 
the  abuses  of  the  relation  of  master  and  servant,  and  the 
relation  itself,  as  we  are  compelled  to  do  in  all  other  civil 
institutions  and  relations  of  life. 

To  insist  upon  the  faithful  discharge  of  the  mutual  duties 
of  master  and  servant  in  order  to  the  maintenance  of  a  good 
standing  in  the  Church ;  and,  in  cases  of  delinquency,  to 
administer  discipline  without  respect  of  persons. 

To  have  the  Gospel  freely  and  fully  preached  to  them, 
their  ignorance  removed  by  sound  instruction,  their  spiritual 
wants  searched  out  and  supplied,  their  access  to  the  Holy 
Scriptures  granted  and  secured,  and,  finally,  to  have  them 
included  with  their  masters  in  a  common  pastoral  charge. 

In  performing  these  duties,  the  Church  fulfils  her  mission, 
which  is  to  take  care  of  the  higher,  the  eternal  interests  of 
men,  and  to  caiTy  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  to  every 
creatiu'e  under  Heaven. 

The  Holy  Scriptures,  as  we  have  seen,  1  Cor.  vii.  21, 
pronounced  a  state  of  freedom  to  be  preferable  to  a  state  of 
slavery.  Slavery,  as  one  of  the  many  forms  of  civil  govern- 
ment ordained  of  God,  Rom.  xiii.  1-7,  is  not  as  desirable  as 
some  others  ;  yet,  while  it  exists,  it  must  be  honored  and 
supported  by  all  who  live  under  it :  the  Church  is  required 
so  to  do  whenever  she  comes  in  contact  with  it.  Her  chief 
concern  is  with  the  religious,  and  not  the  civil  condition  of 
men.  "  Fear  God,  honor  tlio  king,"  1  Pet.  ii.  17,  is  the 
command  of  the  Apostle.  The  command  of  our  Lord,  whom 
he  follows,  is  "  Render  unto  Caesar  the  things  which  are 
Ciesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things  which  are  God's,"  Matt. 
xxii.  21.     And  the  instance  is  yet  to  be  adduced  from  the 


174  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

Holy  Scriptures  wherein  the  Cliurch  has  arrayed  herself  in 
hostile  attitude  against  any  form  of  civil  government  what- 
ever, as  a  form  of  civil  government.  She  has  never  received 
any  command  of  God,  neither  has  she  been  self-moved  by 
either  her  own  wisdom  or  philosophy  at  any  time,  so  to  do. 
She  founds  religion,  not  empires.  She  dethrones  iniquity, 
not  Icings.  She  comes  not  with  observation  to  establish  her 
dominion  with  fire  and  sword  ;  but  she  comes  in  meekness 
and  in  love,  and  with  the  unseen  and  irresistible  leaven  of 
grace  :  and  thus  she  leavens  and  purifies  the  corrupt  masses 
of  mankind,  and  the  fruit  is  righteousness  and  peace.  "  Jesus 
answered,  my  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world."     John  xviii.  36. 

The  government  in  slavery,  on  the  part  of  the  master, 
partakes  of  what  is  ordinarily  called  '"  the  patriarchal  form." 
Tlie  head  of  the  household  occupies  the  place  of  a  father, 
master,  minister,  lawgiver,  and  judge.  A  great  amount  of 
power,  absolute  and  discretionary,  is  lodged  in  liis  hands, 
and  consequently  he  is  able  to  make  tliat  power  felt  either 
for-good  or  for  evil :  for  good,  when  the  master  is  a  son  of 
Abraham,  Gen.  xviii.  19  ;  and  for  evil,  when  the  master  is 
Nabal  and  a  son  of  Belial,  1  Sam.  xxv.  14-25.  The  happiness 
of  the  slave  is  bound  up  in  the  character  of  the  master. 
Herein  he  resembles  the  child  whose  happiness  is  bound  up 
in  the  character  of  its  parent.  And  on  the  other  Jiand,  the 
character  of  the  slave,  and  of  the  child,  has  much  to  do  with 
the  happiness  of  the  master  and  the  lather. 

Slavery,  therefore,  is  liable  to  abuse,  as  are  all  other  civil 
institutions  which  concentrate  power  in  a  high  degree  in  the 
hands  of  rulers.  But  masters  themselves  are  under  law. 
They  are  not  irresponsible  for  their  treatment  of  their  servants. 

Their  servants  also  are  under  law,  and  are  not  left  to 
become  a  prey  to  violence,  injustice,  and  cruel  oppression. 
They  are  recognized  as  persons — as  an  important  class  in  the 
body  politic,  to  whom  rights,  privileges,  and  protection  are 
guaranteed  by  law. 

The  institution  has  been  abused  through  the  lust  of  wealth, 
the  Inst  of  power,  and  through  the  love  of  ease  and  of  pleas- 
ure on  the  part  of  owners  ;  and  also  through  the  idleness,  the 


SLAVERY   IN   CONNECTION   "WITn    THE   CHURCH.  175 

rebellion,  and  immorality  of  servants,  who  have  provoked  and 
drawn  down  upon  themselves  "  bnffetings  for  their  faults," 
1  Pet.  ii.  20,  and  many  sorrows.  But,  as  already  remarked, 
a  distinction  must  be  made  between  the  institution  and  its 
abuses.  "While  the  Holy  Scriptures  uphold  the  institution  as 
lawful,  they  warn  men  against  its  abuses,  and  inculcate  the 
duties  of  masters  and  servants  in  the  plainest  manner,  con- 
demning every  unjust  exercise  of  power  on  the  one  hand,  and 
every  evasion  of  duty  on  the  other. 

The  song  of  the  angels  proclaims  the  object  of  the  advent 
of  the  Son  of  God  :  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on 
earth  peace,  good-will  toward  men."  The  religion  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  originates  those  principles  of  benevolence  and 
justice  in  the  breasts  of  masters  and  servants,  vrhich  legiti- 
mately tend  to  a  higher  standard  of  perfection  in  their  char- 
acter and  life,  and  to  a  greater  measure  of  happiness  in  the 
relations  which  they  sustain  towards  each  other.  As  servants 
become  improved  by  Christianity,  and  by  that  pure  civiliza- 
tion which  flows  from  it,  and  so  are  fitted  for  the  reception  and 
proper  use  of  higher  privileges,  the  spirit  of  Christianity  in 
the  masters,  and  of  enlightened  policy  and  legislation  in  civil 
government,  will  award  those  privileges  to  them.  Progress 
may  be  upward,  and  onward,  and  peaceful.  Modifications^  and 
even  changes  in  the  system,  which  justice  and  mercy  may 
require,  may  be  happily  effected  by  the  tranquil  yet  powerful 
and  conservative  influences  of  the  Gospel.  The  Gospel  will 
certainly  improve  this,  as  it  will  every  other  defective  form 
of  government  in  the  world.  The  work  of  the  Church,  as  she 
stands  connected  with  this  and  every  other  form  of  govern- 
ment, is  to  "  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature,"  and  "  to 
render  to  Cossar  the  things  which  are  Ciesar's,  and  to  God  the 
things  which  are  God's."  In  the  performance  of  this  duty, 
blessed  be  God  !  the  Church  will  ever  find  her  happiness,  her 
prosperity,  and  her  peace. 


176  THE   HISTOKY   OF    THE   CHTJECH   OF   GOD. 


CHAPTEE  XIV. 

ABRAHAM  ENGAGED  IN  "WAR. — "WAR  OF  THREE  KINDS. — THE  PRIESTHOOD 
AND  TITHES  ;  BOTH  OF  DIVINE  ORIGIN. — WHO  MELCHISEDEK  WAS. — THE 
PROMISES  MADE  TO  ABRAHAM  AT  HIS  CALL  RIPEN  INTO  A  COVENANT. — 
THE  COVENANT  A  REAL  ONE. — A  CARRYING  OUT  OF  THE  COVENANT  OF 
GRACE  ;   ITS  DISTINGUISHING  PECULIARITY. 

Abraham  was  engaged  in  war.  The  conquest  and  sub- 
jugation of  the  five  kings  of  the  cities  of  the  plain  Avere 
without  right  on  the  part  of  Chedorlaomer.  He  "  made  war  " 
— aggressive  war — upon  them,  Gen.  xiv.  1-2,  and,  conse- 
quently, as  soon  as  the  five  kings  were  able,  they  rebelled 
and  asserted  their  independence,  Abraham  (it  does  not 
appear  to  the  contrary)  was  in  no  alliance  as  a  prince  with 
either  of  the  five  kings,  and  therefore  was  not  personally 
interested  in  the  war ;  yet  he  identified  himself  with  his 
nephew  Lot,  and  espoused  his  cause  as  one  of  just  resistance 
to  oppressive  power.  Assembling  his  "  confederates,"  and 
"  arming  his  three  hundred  and  eighteen  trained  servants, 
born  in  his  own  house,"  he  pm-sued  Chedorlaomer  on  his 
march  homeward,  as  far  as  Dan,  and,  by  a  well-planned 
attack  at  night,  defeated  and  pursued  liiin  a  considerable 
distance  to  Hobah,  and  recovered  Lot,  his  family,  all  the 
people,  and  all  their  goods,  and  returned  from  "  the  slaughter 
of  tiic  kings,"  Heb.  vii.  1,  in  triumph  and  safety.  For  his 
magnanimous  and  courageous  conduct  he  received  the  divine 
approval,  for  he  was  met  on  his  return  by  Melchisedek,  priest 
of  the  most  high  God,  who  brought  forth  refreshments  of 
bread  and  wine  for  him  and  his  confederates.     Melchisedek 


ABEAHAM   ENGAGED   IN   WAK.  lYT 

blessed  liim  in  the  name  of  the  most  high  God,  and  also 
blessed  the  most  high  God  because  he  had  prospered  Abra- 
ham, delivering  his  enemies  into  his  hand.  "  And  Abraham 
gave  Melchisedek  tithes  of  all "  "  the  spoils,"  Gen.  xiv. 
18-20  ;  Heb.  vii.  4.  This  is  the  first  war  in  sacred  history — 
the  iirst  recorded  in  the  world,  and  the  Lord's  people  are  active 
combatants  in  it.  We  thus  not  only  learn  what  war  in  itself 
is,  but  also  that  it  is  justifiable  or  otherwise,  according  to  the 
justice  or  injustice  of  the  motives  and  ends  which  govern 
those  who  engage  in  it. 

War  is  a  state  of  open,  active,  and  deadly  hostility  be- 
tween two  or  more  independent  cities,  tribes,  states,  or  nations. 
Gen.  xiv.  1-15  ;  Matt.  xxiv.  6-10 ;  2  Chron.  xv.  6  ;  Isa.  xiii. 
4 ;  Joel.  iii.  9  ;  1  Sam.  xiv.  47,  and  is  of  three  kinds  (all  of 
which  appear  in  Gen.  xiv.),  namely,  offensive,  defensive,  and 
judicial. 

1.  Offensive  or  aggressive  war  ; — when  one  nation  invades 
and  assaults  another  without  just  cause,  for  the  gratification 
of  ambition,  avarice,  revenge,  or  lust.  Sucli  was  the  war  of 
Chedorlaomer,  and  many  other  wars  narrated  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. Such  indeed  has  been  the  character  of  the  far  greater 
portion  of  the  wars  which  have  devastated  the  earth,  2  Kings 
xiv.  8-12  ;  Isa.  xxxvi.,  xxxvii.,  xiii.,  and  xiv.  Wars  of  this 
kind  are  unjust  and  off'ensive  to  "  the  King  of  Kings  and  the 
Lord  of  Lords." 

2.  Defensive  war ; — when  a  nation,  for  the  preservation  of 
its  independence,  its  revenues,  its  territory,  its  people,  its 
religion,  its  privileges,  or  its  laws,  resists  its  invaders  and 
oppressors.  Such  a  war  is  one  of  self-defence  and  is  therefore 
justifiable.  Self-defence  is  an  instinct  of  nature  ;  and,  accord- 
ing to  Scripture,  individuals  may  exercise  the  right  in  the 
absence  of  all  help,  especially  from  the  civil  power.  In  such 
a  case  a  man  becomes  a  law  unto  himself  For  example  :  a 
thief  breaks  into  a  house  at  night,  the  owner  of  the  house 
may  defend  his  property,  even  to  the  death  of  the  thief.  If 
the  thief  breaks  in  by  daylight,  he  may  defend  his  property, 
but  may  not  put  the  thief  to  death,  seeing  that  he  may  after- 
wards recognize  and  bring  him   to  justice,  or  may  obtain 

12 


178  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE   CHURCH   OF    GOD. 

assistance  and  apprehend  him,  Exod.  xxii.  2-3.  In  like 
manner,  a  man  may  defend  his  person,  or  his  family,  when 
assaulted.  He  may  defend  the  weak  and  helpless  from  the 
strong  hand  of  the  civil  oppressor.  A  Christian  man  may  do 
all  these  thin2;s  with  a  clear  conscience.  The  riocht  of  self- 
defence  belongs  equally  to  nations ;  for  a  nation  is  but  an 
aggregate  of  individuals.  Hence,  the  people  of  God  may 
obey  the  powers  that  be,  and  enter  armies  to  fight  the  battles 
of  their  country  in  defensive  war,  and  do  nothing  displeasing 
to  God,  We  have  many  instances  in  the  Bible  of  defensive 
war  waged  by  the  people  of  God  with  His  cotnmand  and 
approbation.  The  unresisting  endurance  of  evil,  and  absti- 
nence from  all  acts  of  retaliation  and  revenge  enjoined  by  our 
Lord  and  His  Apostles,  Matt.  v.  38-48  ;  Eom.  xii.  14-21, 
have  no  bearing  upon  the  matter  in  hand.  Private  Christians 
are  instructed  in  points  of  duty  growing  out  of  far  different 
circumstances  from  those  which  call  for  and  justify  self- 
defence,  both  on  the  part  of  individuals  and  of  nations.  A 
nation  may  also  engage  in  war  for  the  defence  and  salvation 
of  another  nation  that  appeals  for  protection  against  one  more 
powerful,  which  without  right  seeks  its  overthrow,  Josh.  x. 
6-11. 

It  is  on  the  right  of  self-defence  that  rebellion  and  revolu- 
tion are,  under  proper  circumstances,  justifiable.  Kebellion  is 
the  resistance  of  the  people  in  greater  or  less  numbers  against 
the  established  laws  and  powers  of  government ;  and  may  be 
right  or  wrong,  according  as  the  laws  and  powers  resisted  are 
right  or  wi'ong  in  themselves  :  and  according  as  the  prospect 
of  ultimate  and  greater  good  is  certain  or  otherwise.  Ordina- 
rily, when  the  people  of  God  cannot  conscientiously  obey  the 
laws  and  submit  to  the  powers  of  the  government  under 
which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  they  are  called  to  live,  their 
course  is  not  rebellion,  not  resistance,  but  submission — sab- 
mission  under  protest  to  the  penalty  of  fine,  imprisonment,  or 
whatever  else  it  may  be,  and  a  quiet  reference  of  their  cause 
to  God.  When  a  just  rebellion  or  resistance  pervades  the 
masses,  and  aims  at  fundamental  changes  in  the  structure  of 
the  government,  then  is  it  a  just  revolution,  and  the  right  of 


THREE   KINDS   OF   WAE.  179 

it  is  recognized  in  the  word  of  God,  1  Kings  xii.  1-19  ;  Judges 
ii.  18,  etc. ;  Numb.  x.  9. 

3.  Judicial  war,  which  may  be  indicated  either  by  the 
command  or  manifest  providence  of  God,  and  is  of  the  nature 
of  an  affliction,  judgment,  or  punishment  of  the  nations 
against  wliich  it  is  waged.  The  overthrow  of  the  four  kings 
by  Abraham  and  his  confederates,  was  of  the  nature  of  a 
divine  judgment ;  for,  allowing  that  Abraham  had  no  com- 
mand of  God  for  what  he  did.  His  providence  laid  the  duty 
upon  him  above  every  other  man,  and,  after  its  vigorous 
performance,  he  received  divine  approbation,  not  only  by  the 
extraordinary  success  granted,  but  also  by  the  expression  of 
that  approbation  through  Melchisedek. 

The  Lawgiver  and  Judge  of  all  the  earth,  has  an  undis- 
puted right  to  visit  nations  for  their  sins,  and  to  employ  what- 
ever instruments  He  pleases  for  that  purpose,  rational  or  irra- 
tional, animate  or  inanimate.  He  deals  with  nations  as  with 
individuals.  The  birds  of  the  air,  the  beasts  of  the  forests, 
flying  insects,  and  creeping  things,  earthquakes,  fires  and 
floods,  blasting  and  mildew,  pestilences  and  famines,  and  men 
themselves,  all  execute  the  wrath  of  God  upon  guilty  nations. 
There  are  examples  of  men  of  lust,  violence,  and  blood,  who 
have  been  justly  wounded,  discomfited,  and  slain  by  the  hands 
of  their  fellow-men  in  personal  rencontre,  which,  by  no  pos- 
sibility, could  they  avoid ;  and  of  lawless  nations  with  their 
cup  of  iniquity  full,  which  have  been  desolated  and  destroyed 
by  contiguous  nations. 

The  wars  of  extermination  against  the  Canaanitish  nations 
were  carried  on  by  God's  own  people  and  under  His  command 
and  guidance;  nor  could  they  go  back  from  an  implicit  obedi- 
ence. In  thus  executing  vengeance  as  His  appointed  agents, 
in  the  fear  of  God  and  for  God,  they  were  wholly  innocent 
of  crime.  All  the  wars  in  Scripture  commanded  of  God  for 
judgment  upon  iniquity,  were  just  wars,  Gen.  xv.  16  ;  1  Kings 
xxi.  26,  etc.  ;  Joshua  and  Judges. 

Judicial  wars  are  not  only  commanded  of  God,  but  are 
brought  about  also  by  His  Providence.  He  employs  nations 
against  nations,  by  permitting   the  ambition,  or  avarice,  or 


180  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF    GOD. 

passions  of  kings  and  people  to  be  acted  out ;  by  permitting 
grounds  of  dispute  and  contention  to  ripen  into  open  ruptures, 
and  then  so  controlliug  the  spirit  and  movements  of  armies  as 
to  give  the  victory  and  defeat  as  seemeth  good  in  His  sight. 
Thus  He  is  said  to  stir  up  one  king  against  another  king,  to 
call  one  nation  against  another  nation,  and  to  deliver  it  into 
its  hand.  Such  were  the  wars  which  Egypt,  Babylonia,  Syria, 
and  other  nations  waged  against  the  people  of  God  for  the 
punishment  of  their  sins  age  after  age ;  such  were  the  wars 
which  in  succession,  and  at  diflferent  periods,  desolated  and 
destroyed  these  nations  by  other  nations  in  return,  Isa.  x. 
1-27;  xiv.  1-27,  etc. 

And,  further,  under  this  head,  it  may  also  be  the  duty  of 
nations  to  wage  war  for  the  subjugation,  or  even  the  effectual 
destruction  in  a  national  capacity  of  other  nations,  who  make 
themselv^es  the  public  enemies  of  their  fellow-men,  whom  they 
rob,  destroy,  and  oppress,  whenever  they  get  them  into  their 
power.  Such  lawless  nations  are  as  justly  subjects  of  retrib- 
utive justice,  as  are  lawless  individuals  in  communities, 
Judges  XX.  1-18. 

As,  from  tlie  corruptions  of  human  nature,  offences  be- 
tween individuals  have  come,  and  will  continue  to  come,  so 
offences  between  nations  have  come  and  will  continue  to  come, 
until  the  glorious  promise  is  fulfillecl  through  the  universal 
diffusion  of  the  Gosj)el  of  peace,  when  "  they  shall  beat  their 
swords  into  ploughshares,  and  their  spears  into  pruning-hooks : 
nation  shall  not  lift  up  sword  against  nation,  neither  shall 
they  learn  war  any  more,"  Isa.  ii.  4 ;  Mich.  iv.  13  ;  Matt, 
xviii.  7.  Meanwhile,  it  is  proper  for  nations  to  learn  the  art 
of  war,  to  fortify  their  territories,  and  to  maintain  land  and 
naval  forces  in  sufficient  strength,  not  only  for  defence  at 
home,  in  case  of  invasion  or  attack,  but  also  for  the  protection 
of  the  persons  and  property  of  their  citizens  and  subjects 
abroad.  All  nations,  like  individuals,  have  the  right  of  self- 
defence  and  self-protection ;  in  other  words,  of  self-preserva- 
tion, and  all  means  necessary  to  the  end  arc  justifiable. 

The  avowed  purpose  in  war  is  defeat  and  overthrow  ;  the 
opposing  parties  are  deadly  enemies,  and  neither  pledge  nor 


THREE   KINDS   OF   WAE.  181 

keep  faith  with  each  other,  beyond  the  observance  of  the  cus- 
tomary usages  of  war,  or  of  such  engagements  as  they  may 
enter  into  by  mutual  consent,  and  for  special  objects.  Neither 
party  has  any  right  to  demand  or  to  expect,  under  any  cir- 
cumstances whatever,  from  the  other,  any  answers,  any  dis- 
closures, any  confessions,  or  any  services,  Avhich  may  be  pre- 
judicial in  the  slightest  degree  to  its  own  interests.  An 
enemy  cannot  be  required  to  destroy  himself.  Hence  all 
means  and  measures  designed  to  efi'ect  the  defeat  of  the 
enemy,  and  nothing  beyond — in  other  words,  all  means  and 
measures  for  our  own  perfect  self-defence  and  protection,  arc 
justifiable.  Wisdom  is  pitched  against  wisdom,  skill  against 
skill,  cunning  against  cunning,  as  well  as  force  against  force, 
in  war ;  and  Scripture  saith,  "  Wisdom  is  better  than  strength,'' 
Eccl.  ix.  13-18  ;  "  Wisdom  is  better  than  wea})ons  of  war," 
Eccl.  vii.  19  ;  Prov.  xxi.  22 ;  xxiv.  5-6 ;  Luke  xiv.  31-32.  All 
spies,  informers,  stratagems,  feints,  ambuscades,  and  decep- 
tions of  every  kind,  are  allowable  for  the  defeat  of  the  enemy, 
as  the  following  passages  demonstrate.  Judges  i.  23-26  ;  xviii. 
1-17 ;  Josh.  ii.  1-24 ;  vii.  2 ;  ]^umb.  xiii.  1,  etc. ;  xxi.  32  ; 
1  Sam.  xxvi,  14= ;  Judges  i.  23-26;  viii.  13-17;  1  Sam. 
XXX.  10-16  :  Josh.  viii.  1-30 ;  Judges  xx.  29-34 ;  2  Chron. 
xiii.  13  ;  xx.  22  ;  Josh.  vi.  17-25  ;  2  Sam.  xv.  27-37 ;  xvii. 
1-21. 

The  Scriptures  lay  down  general  principles  of  justice  and 
of  mercy  to  be  observed  in  war :  such,  for  example,  as  that 
every  eflbrt  should  be  made  to  avoid  war  and  to  effect  an 
honorable,  just,  and  lasting  peace:  that  opportunities  be  given 
for  these  before  hostilities  are  begun  :  that  quarter  be  allowed 
to  conquered  and  submitting  enemies  :  that  women,  children, 
and  aged  men,  be  spared  and  protected :  that  there  be  a 
readiness  to  make  peace  whenever  the  enemy  is  disposed  so 
to  do.  Dent.  xx.  10-15  ;  2  Sam.  xx.  19-22 ;  Josh.  xxii.  11-34 ; 
Judges  XX.  11-14.  Finall}^,  the  Scriptures  inculcate  doctrines 
and  duties  which,  in  the  measure  that  they  are  believed  and 
performed,  will  banish  war  from  the  earth.  The  Gospel  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  promotes  "  peace  on  earth,  good-will 
toward   men,"  and   He,  the  great   theme  and   sum  of  that 


182  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

Gospel,  is  "  the  Prince  of  Peace."  His  Church  is  to  dissemi- 
nate the  Gospel,  and  to  follow  the  things  which  make  for 
})eace  among  all  nations,  until  they  shall  learn  war  no  more, 
Isa.  ii.  1-4. 

On  Abraham's  return  from  this  war,  for  the  first  time 
distinct  mention  is  made  of  the  priesthood  in  the  person  of 
Melchisedek,  and  of  tithes,  which  Abraham  paid  to  him.  The 
priesthood  of  Melchisedek  was  of  divine  origin,  since  he  is 
called  "  Priest  of  the  most  high  God,"  deriving  his  oflSce 
from,  and  ministering  unto  the  most  high  God.  So  is  he  con- 
sidered in  Ps.  ex.,  and  is  a  type  of  Christ,  not  only  in  the 
peiT^etuity  of  his  priesthood,  but  in  his  divine  appointment 
thereto,  for  the  Apostle  establishes  the  rule  of  God's  house  in 
the  appointment  of  the  priesthood  :  "  and  no  man  taketh  this 
honor  upon  himself,  but  he  that  is  called  of  God  as  was 
Aaron  ;  "  then,  of  our  Lord  he  says,  "  so  also  Christ  glorified 
not  himself  to  be  made  an  high  priest,  but  He  that  said  unto 
him,  "  Thou  art  a  priest  forever  after  the  order  of  Melchise- 
dek," called  of  God,  an  high  priest  after  the  order  of  Melchise- 
dek," Ps.  ex.,  1-4  ;  Heb.  v.  1-10;  and,  as  the  appointed  priest 
of  the  most  high  God,  he  is  superior  to  Abraham.  If  he  had 
not  been  so  appointed,  he  would  not  have  been. 

From  the  fact  that  Melchisedek's  priesthood  was  of  divine 
appointment,  and  for  the  reason  assigned  by  the  Apostle,  that 
the  oflice  is  of  God  only,  it  is  clear  that  the  priesthood  existing 
in  the  Church  prior  to  his  day  was  also  of  divine  appointment ; 
as  we  well  know  it  was  subsequent  to  his  day,  even  down  to 
the  advent  of  Christ.  Our  Lord  carried  out  the  same  order, 
and  divinely  appointed  all  the  ordinary  and  extraordinary 
oflicers  that  were  to  minister  in  the  Church  after  His  advent, 
and  so  continues  divinely  to  call  and  qualify  His  ordinary 
ministers  to  the  present  day.  He  who  is  king  in  Zion,  and 
upon  whose  shoulder  is  the  government,  has  always  ai>pointed 
the  ofiicers  of  His  church. 

His  Church  enjoyed  the  ministration  of  the  ijriesthood  as 
soon  as  it  began  to  exist.  The  Church  has  never  been  without 
ofiicers.  If  there  be  an  altar,  there  must  be  a  sacrifice,  and 
if  there  be  both  sacrifice  and  altar,  then  there  must  be  a 


DIVINE   ORIGIN   OF   THE    rRIESTIIOOD,  183 

sacrificer — a  priest  to  offer :  the  three  are  coeval  and  insepa- 
rable.    He  who  appointed  one,  appointed  all. 

Adam  was,  of  necessity,  the  appointed  priest  of  his  family. 
The  patriarchs  officiated  also ;  and,  as  men  multiplied,  the 
priesthood  mnltiplied.  Koah  sacrificed  and  was  priest  to  his 
family,  and  to  the  new  world.  Job  sacrificed  and  was  priest 
to  his  household.  Job  i.  1-5,  and  also  to  the  men  of  his  times. 
Job  xlii.  7-9.  Abraham  sacrificed  and  was  priest  to  his 
family  and  household.  Gen.  xii.  7-8  ;  xiii.  4,  18,  and  was  a 
prophet  and  intercessor  with  God  for  others,  Gen.  xx.  7,  17. 
Cotemporary  with  Abraham  is  Melchisedek,  called  "  priest 
of  the  most  high  God,"  and  of  authority  beyond  the  bounds 
of  his  own  city,  among  the  people  of  God.  Isaac  and  Jacob 
also  ministered  at  the  altar.  Gen.  xxvi.  25  ;  xxxiii.  20  ;  xxxv. 
1-7 ;  xlvii.  7.  There  were  priests  among  God's  people  in 
Egypt,  who  came  out  with  them  into  the  wilderness,  Exod. 
xix.  22.  Moses  and  others — young  men — officiated,  Exod. 
xxiv.  1-8,  before  Aaron  and  his  sons  were  set  apart ;  and  there 
was  also  Jetliro,  priest  of  Midian,  who  off'ered  sacrifices  when 
he  came  to  the  camp  to  see  Moses,  Exod.  ii.  16  ;  xviii.  9-12  ; 
xxviii.  1,  etc. 

The  priesthood  was  an  order  of  Church  officers,  exercising 
authority  in  sacrifices,  teaching,  commanding  their  households 
after  them,  and  some,  like  Noah,  were  ''  preachers  of  right- 
eousness," Gen.  xviii.  19 ;  3  Pet.  ii.  2-5.  Melchisedek  was 
of  this  order.  Gen.  xiv.  19.  The  manner  of  their  call  and 
ordination  to  their  office,  and  their  numbers  in  the  ages  before 
and  after  the  flood,  are  not  known.  They  were  promiscuously 
taken  from  among  men  without  regard  to  country  or  station — 
were  priests  for  life,  and,  when  the  necessities  of  the  Church 
demanded  it,  were  wholly  given  to  their  calling.  The  grace 
of  God,  ruling  in  the  hearts  of  His  people,  would  make  them 
as  anxious  for  the  blessing  of  a  stated  ministry  as  they  arc 
now,  and  as  solicitous  to  multiply  that  ministry,  so  that 
it  might  meet  the  wants  of  all ;  nor  would  they  fail  in  pi*ayer 
to  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  to  send  laborers  into  His  vineyard. 
The  religion  of  Christ  is  one,  and  its  nature  and  manifesta- 
tions are  the  same  in  all  a^res. 


184  THE   HISTOEY    OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

A  priesthood  exclusively  devoted  to  their  calling,  needed 
some  provision  for  their  temporal  support,  and  that  provision 
is  seen  in  the  system  of  tithes.  Jacob  vowed  to  God  at 
Bethel,  "  and  of  all  that  thou  shalt  give  me  I  will  surely  give 
the  tenth  unto  thee,"  Gen.  xxviii.  22.  Pray,  where  did  Jacob 
learn  that,  of  all  which  God  should  give  him,  one-tenth  should 
be  consecrated  to  His  service  ? — From  Abraham,  who  paid 
tithes  to  Melchisedek  as  a  customary  due  to  the  priests  of  God. 
Whence  did  Abraham  receive  his  knowledge  of  the  duty  'i 
Undoubtedly  from  God,  either  immediately  or  mediately, 
through  saints  who  preceded  him.  Whatever  may  be  said  of 
the  teachings  of  the  light  of  nature,  and  of  the  reasonableness 
and  justice  of  the  duty,  we  can  conceive  of  its  being  taught 
(and  authoritatively  taught)  to  the  Church  by  revelation  from 
God,  and  in  no  other  manner  whatever.  He  who  ordained 
the  priesthood,  ordained  their  temporal  support  to  be  drawn 
from  the  people  for  whom  they  officiated.  "  Thou  shalt  not 
muzzle  the  ox  that  treadeth  out  the  corn,"  and  "  the  laborer 
is  worthy  of  his  hire,"  are  principles  of  justice  as  old  as  the 
priesthood  itself,  Heb.  vii.  5.  Tithes  must  have  been  divinely 
commanded  as  soon  as  needed.  The  rules  regulating  the 
assessment,  collection,  and  payment  of  tithes  first  appear  in 
the  laws  of  Moses.  Melchisedek  received  them,  and  this 
settles  the  point  that  all  other  priests  were  entitled  to  do  the 
same. 

But  we  have  a  priest  in  Melchisedek  superior  to  Abraham. 

'W**1  His  superiority  consisted  not  only  in  earthly  office  and  dig- 

O^."'-  nity,  for  he  was  a  king,  and  Abraham  only  a  prince  ;  but  also 

in  spiritual  office  and  dignity,  as  both  Moses  and  the  Apostles 

teach.     In  the  first  place,  Melchisedek  blesses  Abraham,  Gen. 

xiv.  19.     '•  And  without  all  contradiction  the  less  is  l)lessed 

**"'    of  tlie  better,"  or  greater,  Heb.  vii.  6-7.     And  in  the  second 

place,  Abraham  paid  tithes   to  Melchisedek,   Gen.  xiv.  20 : 

Heb.  vii.  4-5,      Abraham  v;as  in  fact  a  priest  himself,  but 

Melchisedek  was  of  an  order  superior  to  his. 

Melehiscdek's  priesthood,  the  Apostle  says,  was  made  like 
unto  that  of  the  Son  of  God,  formed  after  the  fashion  of  it, 
and  therefore  became  to  the  Church  a  type  of  it,  Heb.  vii.  3, 


MELCHISEDEK.  185 

16-17,  24.  And  as  our  Lord  was  a  liigli  priest,  Heb.  vii.  26, 
etc.,  and  such  "  a  high  priest  rafter  the  order  of  Melchisedek," 
Heb.  V.  10,  may  we  not  conclude  that  Melchisedek  himself 
was  a  high  priest  ?  Moses  was  a  type  of  Christ  as  a  prophet ; 
Melchisedek,  a  type  of  Him  as  a  priest ;  and  David,  a  type 
of  Him  as  a  king.  Aaron,  as  high  priest,  was  of  an  order 
superior  to  the  ordinary  priests.  Might  not  Melchisedek  have 
been  a  high  priest,  and  of  an  order  superior  to  the  ordinary 
priests  of  his  day  ?  Was  the  office  of  high  priest  created  first 
at  Sinai  ?  or  was  it  created  centuries  before  ?  There  is  nothing 
improper  or  improbable  in  the  latter  supposition.  Melchise- 
dek may  have  had  his  predecessors.  So  much  for  the  priest- 
hood, as  it  existed  in  the  Church  from  the  earliest  times  to 
those  of  Abraham  and  Melchisedek. 

The  person  of  Melchisedek  involves  no  mystery.  The 
opinions  broached,  that  he  was  "  The  Holy  Ghost,"  "  the  Son 
of  God,"  "  God  the  Father,"  "  Shem,"  and  such  like,  are  all 
pure  imaginations.  He  was  just  what  Moses  (Gen.  xiv.  18- 
20)  and  the  Apostle  Paul  (Heb.  vii.  1-10)  represent  him  to 
be,  neither  more  nor  less.  He  was  a  man  living  in  the  prom- 
ised land,  cotemporary  with  Abraham,  king  of  Salem,  after- 
wards Jerusalem,  and  priest  of  tlie  Most  High  God.  The 
Apostle  affirms  that  his  name  expressed  his  character :  first, 
Melchisedek  is  comj^osed  of  two  Hebrew  words,  signifying 
Mng  and  righteousness,  so  he  was  a  righteous  king ;  then, 
king  of  Salem.  Salem  m.Q2a\?>  peace,  so  he  was  king  of  peace — 
a  righteous  and  peaceful  king.  He  was  also  priest  of  the 
Most  High  God,  but  not  obtaining  his  priesthood  by  descent 
from  his  father  before  him,  according  to  the  order  of  Aaronic 
priesthood.  He  was  appointed  priest  directly  by  God,  and 
was  in  his  order  typical  of  the  order  of  Christ,  who  sprang 
not  from  the  Aaronic  priesthood ;  therefore  no  priestly  pedi- 
gree, no  genealogy  is  given  of  him  ;  and,  in  this  sense,  the 
Apostle  says,  he  is  "  without  fiither,  without  mother,  witliout 
descent."  Again,  as  he  was  priest  for  life,  constituted  a  per- 
petual priest,  like  unto  the  Son  of  God,  in  this  sense  he 
"  has  neither  begiuTiing  of  days,  nor  end  of  life."  As  Moses 
and   David,  mortal  men,  and   types   of  Christ,  served   their 


186  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

generation  and  "  fell  on  sleep,"  so  did  Melchisedek,  Neh. 
vii.  63-64;  xiii.  28-29;  Ezra  x.  18-19;  ii.  61-63;  Numb, 
iii.  1-51. 

The  promises  of  God  to  Abraham  at  his  call,  although 
several  times  repeated,  finally,  after  twenty-four  years,  ripen 
into  a  covenant. 

The  promises  made  in  Ur  are  briefly  given  by  Stephen, 
Acts  vii.  1-3  ;  Gen.  xi.  31-32  ;  xii.  1,  and  more  fully  stated 
in  Gen.  xii.  There  are  fom' :  First,  that  Abraham  should 
have  a  land,  "  Get  thee  imto  a  land  that  I  will  shew  thee  ;  " 
second,  that  he  should  there  become  a  great  nation,  "  and  I 
will  make  thee  a  great  nation,"  Isa.  Ix.  22  ;  third,  that  God 
M'ould  take  Abraham  and  his  nation  in  him  into  peculiar  and 
near  relation  to  Himself,  "  I  will  bless  thee  and  make  th}' 
name  great,  and  thou  shalt  be  a  blessing,  and  I  Avill  bless 
them  that  bless  thee,  and  curse  him  that  curseth  thee ; " 
fourth,  that  Abraham  and  his  nation  in  him  should  convey 
blessings  to  all  tlie  families  of  the  earth,  "  And  in  thee  shall 
air  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed."  The  Lord  appeared 
to  him  a  second  time,  after  he  had  entered  Canaan,  in  the 
plain  of  Moreh,  and  pointed  out  the  land  He  had  promised 
him  in  Ur.  "  Unto  thy  seed  will  I  give  this  land,"  Gen.  xii. 
4—18.  On  His  third  appearance  to  Abraham,  the  Lord 
renewed  the  promise  of  the  land  and  of  a  numerous  seed,  in 
the  strongest  terms  :  "  Lift  up  now  thine  eyes,  and  look  from 
the  place  where  thou  art,  northward  and  southward,  and 
eastward  and  westward :  for  all  the  land  W'hich  thou  seest, 
to  thee  will  I  give  it,  and  to  thy  seed  forever.  And  I  will 
make  thy  seed  as  the  dust  of  the  earth  :  so  that  if  a  man  can 
number  the  dust  of  the  earth,  then  shall  thy  seed  also  be 
numbered.  Arise,  walk  through  the  land  in  the  length  of  it 
aiul  in  the  breadth  of  it,  for  I  will  give  it  unto  thee."  Gen. 
xiii.  12-17.  On  His  fourth  appearance,  the  Lord  renews  the 
same  promise  of  a  seed  and  of  the  land,  with  some  additions. 
"  And  He  brought  him  forth  abroad  and  said.  Look  now 
toward  heaven,  and  tell  the  stars,  if  thou  be  able  to  number 
them.  And  He  said  unto  him,  So  shall  thy  seed  be.  1  am 
the  Lord  that  brought  thee  out  of  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  to  give 


COVENANT  WITH  ABEAHAM.  187 

thee  this  land  to  inherit  it."  Abraham  now  prayed  that  God 
would  give  hiin  assurances  of  the  fulfilment  of  these  promises. 
The  Lord  graciously  did  so,  and,  according  to  the  manner  of 
entering  into  a  covenant,  He  ordered  a  heifer,  a  she  goat,  a 
ram,  a  turtledove,  and  a  young  pigeon,  to  be  slain  and 
prepared,  the  beasts  to  be  divided  in  the  midst  and  laid  each 
piece  one  over  against  another ;  but  the  birds  not  to  be 
divided.  "When  the  sun  was  going  down,  a  deep  sleep  and 
great  darkness  fell  upon  Abraham,  and  God  spake  to  him  and 
said  :  "  Know  of  a  surety  that  thy  seed  shall  be  a  stranger  in 
a  strange  land  that  is  not  theirs,  and  shall  serve  therein,  and 
they  shall  afflict  them  four  hundred  years ;  and  also  that 
nation  whom  they  shall  serve,  will  I  judge :  and  afterward 
shall  they  come  out  with  great  substance.  And  thou  shalt 
go  to  thy  fathers  in  peace  ;  thou  shalt  be  buried  in  a  good  old 
age.  But  in  the  fourth  generation  they  shall  come  hither 
again,  for  the  iniquity  of  the  Amorites  is  not  yet  full."  After 
these  words  a  smoking  furnace  and  a  lamp  of  fire,  the  symbol 
of  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  passed  between  the  pieces,  so 
ratifying  the  covenant  with  Abraham,  to  give  him  a  seed  and 
the  land.  The  boundaries  of  the  land  were  also  described. 
"  In  the  same  day  the  Lord  made  a  covenant  with  Abraham, 
saying  :  unto  thy  seed  have  I  given  this  land,  from  the  river 
of  Egypt  unto  the  great  river,  the  river  Euphrates,  etc.,"  Gen. 
XV.  1-21 ;  and  both  the  promises  of  a  seed  and  of  the  land  are 
more  particularly  unfolded :  for,  from  the  maturing  of  the 
promises,  that  is,  from  the  call  of  Abraham,  (Gen.  xi.  31-32,) 
to  their  fulfilment,  should  be  four  generations  of  one  hundred 
years  each.  During  these  four  hundred  years,  Abraham's 
seed  should  be  strangers  in  a  land  not  theirs,  and  part  of  the 
time  be  reduced  to  servitude,  and  serve  a  people  in  a  strange 
country,  being  afflicted  in  their  servitude,  but  God  would 
interpose  and  deliver  them  with  great  substance,  to  take 
possession  of  the  promised  land,  and  at  the  time  when 
the  iniquities  of  the  Amorites,  the  inhabitants  of  the  land, 
should  be  full,  and  they  ripe  for  judgment.  Meanwhile,  Abra- 
ham should  go  to  his  fathers  in  peace,  and  be  buried  in  a  good 
old  age. 


188  THE   IIISTOKY   OF   THE   CHUKCH    OF   GOD. 

In  these  repeated  appearances  and  reassertions  of  his 
loving-kindness,  the  Lord  adds  nothing  to  the  original  prom- 
ises. He  only  repeats  and  renders  them  in  some  particulars 
more  distinct. 

To  give  a  summary  of  the  wliole  :  Abraham  is  called  out 
and  constituted  a  public  person,  the  representative  of  a  "  great 
nation"  -udiich  should  descend  from  him ;  and  this  great 
nation  is  separated  from  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  constituted 
in  one  body  and  one  locality,  to  be  a  public,  visible  body,  the 
depository  of  great  blessings  to  the  world,  and  ever  to  be 
under  the  merciful  care  of  the  Almighty.  All  these  are  new 
revelations  of  the  counsels  of  God,  and  portend  something 
extraordinary  at  hand.  We  have  seen  nothing  like  it  before 
in  the  history  of  the  Church. 

One  step  further  brings  us  to  the  fifth  appearance  of  the 
Lord,  in  which  these  original  promises  ripen  into  a  covenant. 
— "  And  when  Abram  was  ninety  and  nine  years  old,  the 
Lord  appeared  to  Abram,  and  said  unto  him,  I  am  the 
Almighty  God  :  walk  before  me  and  be  perfect."  A  solemn 
address  was  preparatory  to  the  covenant,  "  And  I  will  make 
my  covenant  between  me  and  thee,  and  will  multiply  thee 
exceedingly.  And  Abram  fell  on  his  face,  and  God  talked 
with  him,  saying.  As  for  me,  behold  my  covenant  is  with  thee, 
and  thou  shalt  be  a  father  of  many  nations.  jSTeither  shall  tliy 
name  any  more  be  Abram,  but  thy  name  shall  be  Abraham, 
for  a  father  of  many  nations  have  I  made  thee.  And  I  will 
make  thee  exceeding  fruitful,  and  will  make  nations  of  thee, 
and  kings  shall  come  out  of  thee.  And  I  will  establish  my 
covenant  between  me  and  thee,  and  thy  seed  after  thee,  in 
their  generations,  for  an  everlasting  covenant,  to  be  a  God 
unto  thee,  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee.  And  I  will  give  unto 
thee  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee,  the  land  wherein  thou  art  a 
stranger,  all  the  land  of  Canaan,  for  an  everlasting  possession, 
and  I  will  be  their  God." 

A  sign  and  seal  are  affixed  to  the  covenant.  "  And  God 
said  unto  Abraham,  thou  shalt  keep  my  covenant  therefore, 
thou,  and  thy  seed  after  thee  in  their  generations.  This  is  my 
covenant,"  or  the  sign  and  seal  of  my  covenant,  "  which  ye 


COVENANT   WITH   ABRA.HAM.  189 

sliall  keep  between  me  and  you,  and  thy  seed  after  thee. 
Every  mau-cliild  among  you  shall  be  circumcised :  and  it  shall 
be  a  token  of  the  covenant  betwixt  me  and  you  :  and  he  that 
is  eight  days  old  shall  be  circumcised  among  yon,  every  man- 
child  in  your  generations:  he  that  is  born  in  the  house,  or 
bought  with  money  of  any  stranger,  which  is  not  of  thy  seed. 
He  that  is  born  in  thy  house,  and  he  that  is  bought  with  thy 
money,  must  needs  be  circumcised,  and  my  covenant  " — or  the 
sign  of  my  covenant — "  shall  be  in  your  iiesh  for  an  everlast- 
ing covenant."  A  penalty  was  attached,  "  And  the  uncir- 
cumcised  man-child,  whose  flesh  of  his  foreskin  is  not  circum- 
cised, that  soul  shall  be  cut  off  from  his  people ;  he  hath 
broken  my  covenant."  Two  classes  of  transgressors  are 
obnoxious  to  this  penalty  :  the  first  very  rare,  namely,  those 
Avho  had  no  one  in  infancy  to  present  them  for  circumcision, 
their  parents  being  dead,  and  who.  on  coming  to  years  of 
discretion,  and  learning  that  they  were  born  of  parents  in 
covenant  with  God,  and  therefore  entitled  to  the  sign  and 
seal,  yet  do  not  aj^ply  for  it ;  and  second,  those  parents  who, 
although  in  covenant  themselves,  refuse  to  circumcise  their 
children,  and  consequently  renounce  it  both  for  themselves 
and  their  children — such  should  be  excommunicated  fi-om 
God's  people,  for  they  break  His  covenant.  So  we  understand 
this  Scripture,  and  in  this  way  only  could  the  uncircumcised 
man-child  be  cut  ofi",  first  for  his  own  act,  and  second,  in  and 
with  his  parents'. 

This  is  a  real  covenant,  having  all  the  attributes  of  a 
covenant.  First,  parties  :  the  Almighty  God  of  the  first  part, 
and  Abraham,  His  servant  and  representative  of  his  seed,  of  the 
second  par'.  Second,  conditions  :  God  graciously  undertakes 
to  be  a  God  to  Abraham  and  to  his  seed  after  him,  and 
Abraham  receives,  and  faithfully  and  obediently  embraces 
God  as  his  God,  and  the  God  of  his  seed  after  him.  Third, 
rewards :  blessings,  temporal  and  spiritual,  with  God's  eter- 
nal favor  upon  the  believing  and  the  obedient.  Fourth,  pen- 
alties :  those  who  obstinately  and  finally  reject  the  covenant 
should  be  excluded  from  sharing  in  its  mercies.  Fifth,  a  sign 
and  seal :   that  of  circumcision,  indelibly  made  in  the  flesh. 


190  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

Sixth,  dui'ation :  in  all  its  spiritual  nature  and  provisions  it 
is  an  everlasting  covenant.  "  And  I  will  establish  my  cove- 
nant, to  be  a  God  unto  thee,  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee." 

It  is  not  a  renewal  of  the  covenant  of  works,  for  that 
covenant,  made  with  Adam,  the  federal  head  of  the  race,  was 
broken  in  his  fall,  involving  the  world  in  sin  and  spiritual 
ruin,  and  could  nevermore  be  renewed  with  men.  Nor  is  it 
of  the  nature  of  a  covenant  of  works,  for  it  begins,  continues, 
and  ends  in  faith.  Abraham  obeys  his  call  "  by  faith,"  Heb. 
xi.  8,  and  embraces  the  i^romises  of  the  covenant  by  faith, 
Heb.  xi.  8-9  ;  Eom.  iv.  13-25  ;  inherits  them  by  faith.  Gal. 
iii.  9-18  ;  is  accounted  righteous  tlirough  faith.  Gen.  xv.  6  ; 
Gal.  iii.  6 ;  Rom.,  iv.  1-3,  and  throughout  the  covenant 
appears  the  great  example  and  father  of  believers,  being 
justified  and  saved  by  faith.  Nor  is  it  a  renewal  of  the 
covenant  of  grace.  The  eternal  covenant,  revealed  immedi- 
ately after  the  fall,  was  made  by  God  the  Father,  as  the 
representative  of  the  Godhead,  with  His  Son,  the  head  and 
representative  of  His  people,  and  admits  of  no  renewal.  It 
remains  ever  the  same,  ever  operative,  ordered  in  all  things 
and  sure.  Abrahain  himself  was  a  child  of  this  covenant  of 
grace,  and  as  such,  the  Lord  entered  into  covenant  with  him. 
The  grand  spiritual  promise  of  the  covenant,  "  I  will  be  a 
God  to  thee  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee,"  is  neither  mere  nor 
less  in  fact  than  the  j^romise  which  God  made  with  His 
believing  people  in  Christ  Jesus  under  the  covenant  of  grace, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  although  never  before  pro- 
claimed under  the  like  circumstances.  And  there  is  reason  for 
the  assertion,  for  God  has  been  a  God  to  His  believing 
people  in  Christ  Jesus  in  all  ages,  Ps.  xc.  1 ;  Eph.  i.  3-6 ; 
John  xvii.  24.  They  were  no  dearer  to  Ilira  after  Abraham 
than  they  were  before.  His  love  toward  the  elect  is  eternal, 
all  perfect,  and  unchangeable.  Again,  this  very  promise  is 
acted  out  by  God  in  all  the  previous  histories  of  the  Church. 
He  was  a  God  to  Adam,  and  to  his  seed  after  him, — that  seed 
which  He  appointed  in  the  line  of  spiritual  and  promised 
succession  in  Seth.  He  was  in  like  manner  a  God  to  Beth 
and  to  his  seed  after  him,  namely,  in  Enos,  and  so  on  from 


COVENANT  WITH  ABRAHAM.  191 

Enos  to  Cainan,  from  Cainan  to  Noah,  from  Noah  to  Shorn, 
and  from  Shera  to  Abraham. 

The  covenant  which  the  Lord  made  with  Abraham,  is  a 
carrying  out  of  the  covenant  of  grace — a  further  and  fuller 
imfolding  and  establishing  of  its  promises,  provisions,  and 
blessings ;  and  that  feature  which  gives  it  peculiarity,  and 
distinguishes  it  from  every  other,  is  its  being  made  with  and 
confined  unto  Abraham,  and  his  seed,  called  out  and  sepa- 
rated by  the  Lord  from  all  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  consti- 
tuted His  peculiar  people — His  regularly  organized  visible 
Church. 


192  THE  HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF    GOD. 


CHAPTEK  XV. 

PROMISES  OF  THE  COVENANT,  TEMPORAIj  AND  SPIRITUAL.  —  CHURCH 
ERECTED  INTO  A  STATE,  FOR  SPECIFIC  PURPOSES,  AND  FOR  A  GIVEN 
TIME.  —  THE  GOVERNMENT  A  THEOCRACT. — DESIGN  OF  THIS  CIVIL 
STATE. — THE  COVENANT  EVERLASTING. — ITS  SIGN  AND  SEAL,  CIRCUM- 
CISION ;  NATURE  OF  IT. — THE  VISIBLE  BODY,  SET  UP  IN  ABRAHAM 
UNDER  THE  COVENANT. — THE  VISIBLE  AND  ORGANIZED  CHURCH  OF 
GOD,  ONE  AND   THE   SAME  UNDER  BOTH  DISPENSATIONS,  PROVED. 

The  promises  embraced  in  the  covenant  are  twofold  in 
nature,  temporal  and  spiritual ;  the  temporal  subsidiary  to  the 
spiritual,  and  typical  of  spiritual  things ;  the  spiritual  consti- 
tuting the  soul  and  substance  of  the  covenant. 

The  first  temporal  promise  is  that  of  the  land  of  Canaan, 
the  glory  of  all  lands  for  beauty,  fertility,  health,  and  conve- 
nience, and  located  in  the  heart  of  the  world.  The  blessings 
pronounced  upon  it  were  the  early  and  latter  rain,  gushing 
springs,  and  streams  running  among  the  hills  and  watering  the 
plains  ;  metals  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  varied  fruits  in 
their  seasons,  the  richest  harvests,  countless  flocks  and  herds, 
an  abounding  population,  and  peace  like  a  river, — indeed,  a 
type  of  the  better  country^of  heaven  itself.  Dent.  viii.  6-10  ; 
xi. ;  8-12  ;  vii.  12-15  ;  Ezek.  xx.  6  ;  fleb.  iv.  1-9  ;  xi.  8-16. 

The  land  was  promised  for  an  everlasting  possession — 
everlasting,  not  in  the  sense  for  all  time,  but,  as  the  word  is 
used  in  other  places  of  Scripture,  in  the  sense  for  a  very  long 
time.  Fulfilled  prophecy  so  determines.  It  was  predicted 
that  when  Shiloli  should  come,  "  the  sceptre  should  depart 
from  Judah,"  Gen.  xlix.  10.     All  the  ordained   objects  for 


PROMISES  OF  THE  COVENANT.  198 

which  the  possession  of  the  land  was  necessary,  having  been 
attained,  Jndah  would  lay  down  the  j)ossession  to  another. 
So  it  came  to  pass.  The  llonians  broke  up  the  civil  state  of  the 
seed  of  Abraham,  root  and  branch,  seized  the  whole  inheritance, 
and  their  land  has  been  alienated  from  them  ever  since,  Dan. 
ix.  27 ;  Matt.  ch.  xxiv.  Besides,  the  vast  compass  of  promise 
determines  the  sense  of  the  word  in  the  same  way  ;  for  the 
land  was  not  promised  exclusively  to  those  who  should  descend 
troni  Abraham  by  ordinary  generations,  but  to  all  who  should 
be,  under  the  covenant,  his  true  seed ;  and  they  embrace 
"  many  nations,"  even  the  Gentiles  as  well  as  the  Jews.  To 
understand  the  possession  to  be  literally  everlasting,  would 
involve  the  necessity  of  collecting  all  the  true  seed  from  all 
quarters  of  the  world,  and  for  all  time,  into  this  one  locality. 
Could  the  small  land  bear  all  the  millions  of  its  inhabitants  ? 
Impossible.  The  idea  runs  contrary  to  the  current  of  Scrip- 
ture, which  gives  to  the  true  seed  of  Abraham  the  inheritance 
of  the  whole  earth.  Matt,  xxviii.  19-20  ;  Ps.  ii.  1-8  ;  Hab.  ii. 
14,  etc.  That  the  Israelites  (who  are  only  a  part  of  his  natural 
seed)  shall  return  to  Canaan  to  possess  it,  we  are  inclined  to 
decide  in  the  negative  :  First,  because  the  predictions  of  the 
Old  Testament  of  such  a  return  agree  well,  both  with  their 
return  from  the  several  captivities  to  which  they  were  sub- 
jected, and  with  their  spiritual  return  to  God.  Second,  be- 
cause neither  our  Lord  nor  His  apostles  in  any  manner  hold 
out  such  an  idea,  bat  the  contrary.  Third,  because  the  return 
is  not  necessary  to  any  purpose  of  glory  to  Christ's  kingdom, 
beyond  what  may  be  acomplished  by  their  remaining  where 
they  are.  Fourth,  unless  the  Israelites  are  miraculously  and  for- 
ever kept  a  very  small  remnant  of  people,  Canaan  could  never 
contain  them.  It  would  not  contain  their  present  numbers  in 
the  world,  and  what  shall  be  done  with  their  future  increase  ? 
The  promise  of  Canaan  and  its  continued  possession,  until 
the  coming  and  cutting  off  of  Messiah,  involved  the  necessity 
of  a  civil  government  for  the  seed  of  Abraham.  Surrounded 
by  many  and  powerful  nations,  they  would  require  a  civil 
constitution  for  the  purpose  of  an  independent  national  exist- 
ence, and  He  who  is  King  in  Zion  gave  it  to  them.  But  the 
13 


194  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE    CHURCH    OF   GOD. 

order  laid  down  by  the  Lord  in  this  matter  deserves  to  be  par- 
ticularly understood.  The  religious  constitution  of  the  people 
precedes  the  civil ;  in  other  words,  the  Church  comes  before 
the  State.  The  Church  does  not  exist  for  the  State,  but  the 
State  for  the  Church.  The  Church  does  not  exist  in  the  State, 
but  the  State  in  the  Church.  In  short,  the  Church  set  up  in 
Abraham  has  a  civil  constitution  and  government  for  specific 
purposes,  and  for  a  definite  time,  holding  the  relation  to  sur- 
rounding nations,  first,  of  a  tribe,  and  then  of  a  nation.  It 
governs  its  own  people  civilly,  carries  on  trade  and  commerce, 
makes  peace,  and  declares  war,  etc.  This  civil  constitution 
began  in  Abraham,  for  Abraham  during  his  lifetime  was  the 
])rince,  the  civil  head  of  his  people.  Isaac  succeeded  him,  and 
Jacob,  Isaac,  and  the  twelve  patriarchs  succeeded  Jacob. 
While  in  Egypt  the  people  retained  their  own  civil  govern- 
ment so  far  as  it  was  practicable,  and  were  governed  after  the 
death  of  the  patriarchs  by  "  elders  of  the  people."  When 
brought  out  from  the  house  of  bondage,  Moses,  by  divine  in- 
struction and  authority,  settled  more  definitely  and  perfectly 
their  form  of  government,  and  all  laws  necessary  thereto ;  the 
form  of  government  being  the  only  one  of  its  kind  that  ever 
was,  or  that  ever  shall  be  again  in  the  world — a  theocracy — no 
other  form  being  suitable  unto  or  possible  for  the  character 
and  circumstances  of  the  peculiar  people  for  which  it  was  de- 
signed. The  closing  words  of  the  promise  of  the  land  discovers 
this  :  saitli  the  Lord,  "  and  I  will  be  their  God,"  their  reigning, 
ruling  Grod  in  that  land,  their  King.  Tliis  theocratic  form  of 
government  began  from  the  promise,  from  Abraham,  not  from 
Moses,  and  continued  downward  and  onward,  1  Cliron.  xvi.  20 
-22  ;  Ps.  cv.  1-45.  The  one  body  of  people,  existing  both  in 
an  ecclesiastical  and  civil  state,  has  but  one  head.  The  glorious 
Redeemer  is  both  Lord  and  King. 

The  purpose  of  this  civil  constitution  and  location  in  a  par- 
ticular land  was  twofold.  In  the  first  place,  for  a  perfect  and 
Batisfactory  revelation  to  the  Church  and  the  world  of  the 
promised  Redeemer.  He  was  to  be  the  "  seed  of  the  woman," 
to  descend  through  a  long  line  of  particular  individuals,  to  be 
of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  of  the  family  of  David,  to  be  born  of  a 


PK0MI8ES   OF   THE   COVENANT.  195 

virgin,  in  the  territory  of  Judah,  in  the  town  of  David,  and  at 
an  appointed  time  ;  to  pass  his  life  in  his  own  country,  work 
great  miracles  in  proof  of  His  Messiahship,  to  be  rejected  of 
His  own  people,  and  crucified  by  Jew  and  Gentile  in  Jerusa- 
lem, to  be  buried  and  rise  from  the  dead  the  third  day.  His 
gospel  was  to  be  sent  out  from  Jerusalem  into  all  parts  of  the 
world,  and  all  the  types  and  shadows  of  Him  in  sacrifices, 
temple,  priesthood,  and  ordinances,  receiving  their  accomplish- 
ment in  Him,  were  to  pass  away.  Kow  that  our  Lord  should 
in  all  these  and  many  other  particulars,  minutely  and  prophet- 
ically announced  of  Him  for  many  ages,  be  satisfactorily  re- 
vealed to  the  Church  and  the  world,  it  was  necessary  that  that 
people  from  whom  He  was  to  descend,  and  upon  whom  all 
these  particulars  rested,  should  be  preserved  distinct  from  all 
others.  This  could  be  done,  as  we  conceive,  in  no  other  way 
than  that  Ordained  by  infinite  wisdom,  namely,  by  constituting 
them  a  state,  and  locating  and  preserving  them  in  a  land  made 
sure  to  them  until  the  fulness  of  time  should  come,  when  the 
promised  Seed  should  appear  in  the  flesh,  and  sufier  and  die, 
"  and  be  declared  the  Son  of  God  with  j)ower,  according  to  the 
spirit  of  holiness,  by  the  resurrection  from  the  dead,"  Eoni. 
i.  4.  In  the  second  place,  the  puqDose  was,  for  an  exhibition 
of  the  faithfulness  of  God  in  His  care  and  preservation  of  His 
Church.  He  keepcth  covenant  forever.  He  planted  His 
Church  in  a  position  central  to  the  inhabited  parts  of  the 
world,  and  it  became  a  depository  of  truth  and  salvation,  a 
light  amid  the  surrounding  darkness.  He  appeared  the  God 
and  King  of  His  people,  delivering  them  from  their  enemies, 
instructing,  correcting,  preserving,  reviving,  and  blessing  them. 
His  loving-kindness  and  faithfulness  He  never  withdrew.  His 
covenant  He  always  kept,  and,  at  the  appointed  time,  brought 
His  only-begotten  Son  into  the  world,  bearing  witness  unto 
Him,  glorifying  and  exalting  Him  to  His  own  right  hand,  and 
saying  unto  Him,  "  Sit  Thou  at  My  right  hand  until  I  make 
Thine  enemies  Thy  footstool,"  Ps.  ex.  1 ;  and  so  shall  it  come 
to  pass. 

The  second   temporal  promise  is,  that  Abraham    should 
have  a  numerous  seed.     It  was  fulfilled,  for  his  natural  seed  in 


196  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

the  line  of  promise  by  Sarali,  (without  reckoning  his  seed  ac- 
cording to  the  flesh  by  Ilagar  and  by  Keturah,)  became  a  great 
nation.  Three  millions  of  Israelites  are  estimated  as  having 
come  out  of  Egypt  with  Moses.  They  largely  increased  in  the 
land  of  Canaan,  particularly  in  the  days  of  David  and  Solo- 
mon, and  they  have  always  been  a  most  prolific  race. 

There  are  spiritual  promises  also  in  the  covenant,  and  this 
one  of  a  numerous  seed  is  to  be  interpreted  spiritually  ;  for  it 
lunbraced  not  only  his  natural  descendants,  but  all  who  should 
partake  of  his  "  faith."  Abraham  should  have  a  numerous 
spiritual  seed,  and  be  "  a  father  of  many  nations."  The  Apos- 
tle, in  Gal.  iii.  16-1 Y,  refers  the  promise  particularly  to  Christ 
as  the  seed  of  Abraham.  He  was  to  be  the  progenitor  of 
Christ,  in  whom  all  nations  should  be  blessed  ;  and  again,  the 
promise,  "  I  will  be  a  God  to  thee  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee," 
— than  which  there  can  be  none  more  affluent  of  spiritual  bless- 
ings— covers  every  thing. 

Tlie  covenant  was  for  an  everlasting  covenant.  All  in  it 
that  was  of  a  strictly  temporal  nature  expired  by  the  statute 
of  its  own  limitation,  but  all  in  it  that  M'as  of  a  spiritual  nature 
was  everlasting.  In  evidence  that  it  was  so,  let  it  be  observed 
that  this  covenant  was  but  a  visible  expression,  a  continuation 
and  carrying  out  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  which  is  an  ever- 
lasting covenant — that  this  covenant  existed  from  Abraham  to 
Christ,  and  was  in  force  while  our  Lord  lived  on  earth ;  nor 
did  He  in  any  manner  or  degree  modify  or  abrogate  it.  It  was 
appealed  to  and  confirmed  by  His  successors,  the  Apostles,  as 
an  everlasting  covenant,  Kom.  iv.  13-17 ;  Gal.  iii.  T-29. 
Finally,  the  subjects  of  this  covenant — those  with  whom  it  is 
made — are  none  other  than  the  true  spiritual  seed  of  Abraham, 
the  elect  of  God,  who  arc  to  continue  in  their  generations  until 
the  day  of  judgment,  and  to  whom  Paul  addressed  such  com- 
forting words,  1  Thess.  iv.  13-lS. 

The  sign  and  seal  of  this  everlasting  covenant  was  circum- 
cision. There  is  no  reliable  evidence  to  prove  that  circum- 
cision was  practised  before  it  was  divinely  enjoined  upon 
Abraham.  Why  could  not  the  Egyptians  borrow  it  from  the 
Israelites,  as  well  as  the  Israelites  from  the  Egyptians?     But, 


CIRCDMCISION   THE   SIGN   AND    SEAL   OF   THE   COVENANT.       197 

in  respect  to  the  Israelites,  there  is  ]io  borrowing  in  the  mat- 
ter. No  record  of  circumcision  is  found  before  Moses  iu  any 
writings  on  the  eartli.  It  is  of  God,  who  ordains  all  the  rites 
and  ordinances  of  His  Church.  He  borroAvs  from  none.  From 
the  Israelites  other  nations  learned  the  practice.  "What  is  the 
meaning  of  the  rite  ?  It  was  a  sign,  outward  and  visible  in  the 
flesh,  testifying  to  the  individual  who  received  it,  and  to  all 
others,  that  he  was  a  subject  of  tlie  covenant,  a  member  of  the 
visible  body  of  God's  covenant  people,  whether  he  received  it 
in  infancy,  or  after  attaining  to  mature  age,  at  the  time  he 
voluntarily  applied  for  admission  into  that  body.  It  was  the 
rite  of  initiation,  the  door  of  entrance  to  the  Church.  It  was 
a  seal,  testifying  that  all  the  gracious  promises  and  provisions 
of  the  covenant  were  actually  conveyed  and  made  over,  in 
their  saving  efficacy  and  comfort,  to  all  who  by  faith  received 
it ;  as  in  a  testament  or  will,  the  seal  affixed  not  only  assures  us 
of  the  genuineness  and  truth  of  the  instrument,  but  conveys  to 
those  named  in  it  whatever  was  bequeathed  to  them  by  the 
testator.  All  therefore  who  receive  circumcision,  not  spiritu- 
ally and  truly,  but  only  externally  and  professionally,  failed 
of  experiencing  the  blessings  of  eternal  life  in  the  covenant. 
The  rite  was  an  outward  sign  of  an  inward  grace.  The  sign 
might  be  made  in  the  Hesh,  and  no  grace  reign  in  the  heart. 
The  grace  of  regeneration  by  the  Holy  SjDirit  was  neither 
necessarily,  nor  by  any  promise  of  God  connected  with  its 
administration.  The  cutting  off  of  the  flesh,  of  itself  never 
renewed  the  depraved  heart,  or  saved  a  lost  soul :  "  All  are 
not  Israel,  who  are  of  Israel."  Abraham  was  the  father  of 
many  who  were  of  the  circumcision  only,  and  walked  not  in 
the  steps  of  his  faith,"  Rom.  iv.  12  ;  ix.  6-7.  Multitudes  born 
in  the  covenant,  or  who  were  proselyted  to  it  from  another 
people,  received  the  sign,  and  enjoyed  the  blessings  and  privi- 
leges, yet  perished  in  sin  and  unbelief.  "  For  he  is  not  a  Jew 
who  is  one  outwardly,  neither  is  that  circumcision  which  is 
outward  in  the  flesh  ;  but  he  is  a  Jew  who  is  one  inwardly, 
and  circumcision  is  that  of  the  heart,  in  the  spirit,  and  not  in 
the  letter,  whose  praise  is  not  of  men,  but  of  God,"  Rom.  ii. 
28-29  ;  Phil.  iii.  1-3  :  Rom.  iii.  1-8  ;  1  Cor.  vii.  17-19  :  Gal. 


198  THE   niSTOKT   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

V.  6  ;  vi.  1-5  ;  Col.  iii.  2-11 ;  iii.  11 ;  Matt,  xxiii.  37-39 ;  Acts 
vii.  51-53  ;  Rom.  xi.  1-36. 

This  sign  or  seal  was  temporal  in  character,  in  that  it 
was  outward  and  visible,  set  in  the  flesh  of  the  seed  of  Abra- 
ham, designating  them  as  tlie  true  people  of  God,  and  from 
whom  the  Messiah  was  to  descend.  It  looked  towards  Christ, 
and  was  prophetical  of  Him,  giving  assurance  to  all  in  the 
covenant  tliat  He  would  come  at  the  appointed  time,  and  be 
of  the  seed  of  Abraham  and  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

When  our  Lord  came  and  fulfilled  all  things  Avritten  in  the 
Law,  the  Prophets,  and  the  Psalms,  concerning  Himself,  and 
His  Church  was  no  longer  to  be  confined  particularly  to  the  nat- 
ural seed  of  Abraham,  when  all  the  purposes  were  accomplished 
for  v/hich  it  had  been  kept  in  that  state,  and  it  was  now  to  be 
enlarged,  so  as  to  take  in  all  nations ;  circumcision,  having  ful- 
filled its  end,  gave  way  to  baptism,  a  milder  sign  and  seal  of 
the  covenant,  more  universal  in  its  application,  and  precisely 
in  its  spiritual  nature  of  the  same  significance.  Col.  ii.  8-12. 

This  is  the  reason  why,  after  the  ascension  of  our  Lord, 
the  Apostles  forbade  a  continuance  of  the  rite  of  circumcision 
in  the  Church,  for  it  encouraged  the  pernicious  doctrine  of  jus- 
tification by  the  works  of  the  law,  then  rife  among  the  Jews, 
and  virtually  denied  that  Messiah  had-  come.  The  Israelites 
who  embraced  Christ  were  no  more  to  use  that  sign  and  seal 
which  looked  forward  to  Christ  as  yet  to  come,  but  that  sign 
and  seal  which  looked  back  to  Him  as  already  come.  Those 
who  cleaved  to  circumcision  were  unbelievers,  tlie  open  and 
avowed  rejecters  of  their  own  Messiah,  and  in  this  state  the 
great  body  of  God's  ancient  people  continue  to  this  day.  So 
soon  as  the  veil  is  taken  away  from  their  hearts,  they  will  be- 
lieve on  the  Lord  Jesus,  lay  aside  circumcision,  and  thereafter 
be  baptized  in  His  name,  the  sign  and  seal  of  the  covenant  be- 
ing changed  in  form,  but  not  in  nature.  Acts  xv.  1-24  ;  Gal.  v. 
1-11 ;  vi^  12-13  ;  ii.  1-5  ;  Acts  xxi.  21. 

The  rite  is  also  spiritual  in  character,  being  the  sign  and 
seal  of  a  spiritual  covenant,  full  to  overflowing  witli  precious 
spiritual  promises  and  blessings.  It  pointed  to  the  great  Au- 
thor of  all  being  and  salvation,  clothed  with  infinite  glory  and 


SPIRITUAL   CnAKACTEK   OF   CIRCUMCISION.  199 

authority,  entitled  unto  and  demanding  the  perfect  and  eternal 
love  and  obedience  of  His  creatures.  Those  who  were  circum- 
cised, were  circumcised  into  Him,  av^ouched  Him  to  be  their 
God  and  Saviour,  and  submitted  humbly  and  believingly  to 
His  government  and  Avay  of  salvation.  Thus  they  became  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  the  Lord  Almighty,  and  He  became  their 
God.  They  were  circumcised  also  into  Christ,  the  coming 
Messiah,  whom  they  embraced  by  faith,  as  their  justifying 
righteousness  and  complete  Redeemer ;  and  so  they  avouched 
Him  to  be  their  Saviour,  and  He  became  altogether  such  to 
them,  Phil.  iii.  1-3  ;  Eom.  iv.  9-12  ;  Gal.  v.  6  ;  vi.  15-16  ; 
Deut.  X.  16  ;  xxx.  6  ;  Jer.  iv.  4 ;  Rom.  ii.  28-29  ;  Col.  ii. 
11-12. 

Its  spiritual  character  still  further  appears,  in  that  it  is  a 
memorial  of  fundamental  doctrines  and  duties  :  of  the  deprav- 
ity of  man  ;  "  the  uncircumcised  in  heart  and  ears  "  are  the 
stiff-necked  enemies  of  God,  and  the  resisters  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  Acts  vii.  51,  and  are,  in  their  fleshly  and  carnal  state, 
lost  and  ruined  by  the  fall,  Jer.  iv.  4 ;  vi.  10  ;  Deut.  x.  16  ; 
Col.  ii.  11-13  ;  Rom.  v.  12-19  :  of  regeneration  by  the  Spirit, 
and  of  its  necessity  to  all  who  would  enter  the  kingdom  of 
God ;  to  be  truly  circumcised  is  to  be  born  again,  having  a 
new  heart  and  being  a  new  creature,  Deut.  xxx.  6  ;  Jer.  iv.  4 ; 
3  ;  Rom.  ii.  28-29  ;  Col.  ii.  11-13  ;  Gal.  v.  6  ;  vi.  15  ;  Phil.  iii. 
Ps.  Ii.  10-12  :  and  of  justification  by  faith  in  the  Redeemer  to 
come,  and  not  by  works.  Of  this  justification  by  faith,  Abra- 
ham, who  first  received  circumcision,  is  brought  forward  by 
the  Apostle  Paul  as  the  distinguished  example  of  all  believers 
after  him.  He  had  nothing  to  boast  of  a  personal  righteous- 
ness for  justification  before  God  in  his  naturtil  state,  for  he  was 
an  idolatrous  sinner,  resting  like  all  mankind  in  their  natural 
state,  under  the  curse  of  the  broken  law,  and  lost.  There 
could  be  no  remission  of  his  sins,  no  pardon,  nor  restoration  to 
God's  favor,  unless  a  proper  satisfaction  should  be  rendered  to 
the  dishonored  law  and  justice  of  God.  Such  a  satisfaction 
was  beyond  his  power,  and  the  power  of  all  created  intelli- 
gences in  the  universe.  But  the  Lord,  in  His  sovereignty  and 
mercy,  provided  it  for  Abraham,  and  all  lost  sinners,  in  Jesus 


200  THE   HISTORY    OF  THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

Christ,  His  Son.  He  became  incarnate,  and  put  Himself  under 
tlie  law — the  surety  and  substitute  of  Abraham  and  of  all  who 
were  under  the  curse  of  the  law.  Their  sins  were  imputed  to 
Him,  and  He  obeyed  all  the  precepts  and  suffered  all  the  pen- 
alty of  the  law  in  their  stead,  rendering  complete  satisfaction 
to  God's  justice  for  them,  and  so  brought  in,  by  the  greatness 
of  His  strength  and  infinite  mercy,  an  everlasting  and  sufficient 
righteousness  for  all  who  believe  in  Him,  This  is  called  in 
Scripture  "  the  righteousness  of  God,"  that  is,  the  righteous- 
ness which  God  provides  through  the  gift  of  His  Son,  and 
accepts  in  the  place  of  the  righteousness  of  sinners,  to  whom  it 
is  imputed  when  they  believe.  God,  therefore,  is  just.  His 
law  is  upheld  and  honored,  while  He  justifies  him  who  believes 
in  Jesus.  Justice  and  mercy  have  met  together,  righteousness 
and  peace  have  kissed  each  other  at  the  cross. 

How  did  Abraham  become  apartaker  of  this  righteousness 
for  justification  ?  In  His  electing  love  it  pleased  God,  by  His 
Spirit,  to  reveal  this  righteousness  laid  up  for  him  in  the  com- 
ing Redeemer.  Then  the  convicted,  despairing  Abraham  was 
filled  w^ith  hope  ;  then  "  he  rejoiced  to  see  Christ's  day  ;  he 
saw  it,  and  was  glad,"  John  viii.  56,  Renouncing  his  own 
righteousness  for  ever,  and  repenting  and  confessing  his  sins 
to  a  God  of  mercy,  he  believed  in  the  Redeemer  freely 
given  and  offered  to  him  by  the  Lord,  and  his  faith  was  reck- 
oned to  him  for  righteousness.  Then  was  the  righteousness  of 
Christ,  in  whom  he  believed,  imputed  to  him,  and  he  stood 
alive  from  the  dead,  clean  escaped  from  the  wrath  of  God  in  a 
justified  state.  All  the  benefits  of  that  imputed  righteous- 
ness,— pardon,  reconciliation,  and  final  and  everlasting  inheri- 
tance in  the  kingdom  of  heaven, — were  sure  mercies  to  him. 
Christ's  excellency  shines  in  him.  Christ's  glory  covers  him. 
He  is  conscious  that  God  accepts  him,  as  though  he  had  never 
sinned,  or  had  one  stain  of  sin  in  his  soul,  but  all  for  Christ's 
sake.  Being  now  justified  by  faith,  he  is  in  a  state  of  grace, 
and  the  Saviour,  by  His  blood  and  Spirit,  will  carry  on  his 
personal  sanctification,  through  instituted  means,  all  the  days 
of  his  sojourning,  and  crown  all  with  glory.  He  sees  God  to 
be  the  only  author  of  his  justification,  for  He  provided  the 


SPIRITUAL   CHARACTER   OF   CIRCUMCISION.  201 

Saviour  for  bim.  He  sees  the  matter  and  meritorious  ground 
of  his  justification  to  be  the  righteousness  of  the  Redeemer, 
and  nothing  else.  He  sees  the  instrument,  whereby  he  was 
enabled  to  lay  hold  on  this  righteousness,  to  be  faith, — not  meri- 
torious, since  it  cannot  satisfy  the  law,  and  is  itself  the  gift  of 
God, — but  necessary  and  meet  in  him  always  to  the  receiving 
and  resting  on  Christ.  He  sees  the  evidences  that  he  is  a  justi- 
fied child  of  God,  in  his  renewed  heart  and  life ;  no  longer 
walking  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  spirit,  and  looking  fur  u 
better,  that  is,  a  heavenly  country. 

For  many  long  years  did  Abraham  walk  in  this  justifying 
faith  with  God,  until  the  day  came  when  God  entered  into 
covenant  with  him  and  gave  him  circumcision.  "  Then  he 
received  the  sign  of  circumcision,"  (and  to  him,  a  true  be- 
liever,) "  a  seal  of  the  righteousness  of  the  faith  which  he  had, 
being  uncircunicised,  that  he  might  be  the  father  of  all  them 
that  believe,  though  they  be  not  circumcised  ;  and  the  father 
of  circumcision  to  them  who  are  not  of  the  circumcision  only, 
but  who  also  walk  in  the  steps  of  that  faith  of  our  father  Abra- 
ham, which  he  had,  being  yet  uncircumcised,"  Rom.  iii.  21-31, 
and  chs.  iv.,  v.,  vi.,  vii.,  viii.  ;  Heb.  xi.  13  ;  Gal.  chs.  ii,,  iii., 
iv.  ;  James  ii.  14-26  ;  1  Pet.  i.  1-12  ;  Gen.  xv.  6  ;  Ps.  xxxii. 
1-2  ;  Hab.  ii.  4. 

Circumcision  was  a  memorial  also  of  an  open  profession  of 
God,  and  of  consecration  to  Hiin,  whereby  all  who  received  it 
were  bound  to  entire  newness  of  life,  to  worship  God  in  the 
spirit,  to  rejoice  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  have  "  no  confidence  in 
the  flesh,"  Gal.  v.  6  ;  vi.  15  ;  Phil.  iii.  3  ;  1  Cor.  vii.  19  ;  Jer- 
iv.  1-4  ;     Deut.  x.  12-16. 

This  rite  truly  was  a  memorial — an  epitome  of  the  gospel 
iu  its  fundamental  doctrines  and  duties.  Its  spiritual  nature 
was  well  understood  by  patriarchs  and  prophets,  by  priests 
and  people,  and  by  all  who  forsook  their  false  gods  to  come 
and  trust  under  the  wings  of  the  God  of  Israel,  Ruth  i.  15-17. 
The  question,  "  Sir,  what  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  was  an- 
swered in  the  Church  before  Christ  came,  by  the  command. 
Believe  in  the  promised  Redeemer  and  be  circumcised.  It  is 
answered  in  the  Church  since  His  coming  by  the  same  com- 


202  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

mand  in  another  form,  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and 
be  baptized. 

The  subject  next  in  order,  is  the  people  of  the  covenant : 
who  and  what  are  thej  ?  Concerning  them  let  the  following- 
undeniable  facts,  lying  upon  the  face  of  Scripture,  and  con- 
tirmed  by  the  testimony  of  profane  history,  be  considered, 
namely  :  that  the  Lord  God,  in  His  sovereign  wisdom  and 
pleasure,  did  call  out  and  separate  Abraham  and  his  family 
from  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  regularly  organize  them  as  a 
body  or  society  of  men  living  under  a  covenant  with  Him, 
He  maintaining  relations  with  them  such  as  He  maintains 
with  no  other  people  on  earth  :  that  from  the  time  of  this 
call,  the  Holy  Scriptures,  dropping  the  rest  of  the  human 
race,  are  principally,  nay,  almost  exclusively  occupied  with 
the  history  and  the  affairs  of  this  people,  discovering  God 
all  the  while  dealing  with  them  and  them  alone  as  His 
peculiar  people  :  that  to  them  pertained  the  adoption,  the 
glory,  the  covenant,  the  giving  of  the  law,  and  all  the  revela- 
tion from  heaven,  "  the  service  of  God,  and  the  promises, 
whose  are  the  fathers,  and  of  whom  as  concerning  the  flesh, 
Christ  came,  who  is  over  all,  God  blessed  forever.  Amen." 
Rom.  ix.  4-5  :  that  they  were  always  under  the  direct. govern- 
ment and  protection  of  God  in  Palestine,  in  Egypt,  whence 
they  v/ere  brought  out  by  mighty  signs  and  wonders,  and 
settled  in  Canaan,  their  own  land,  where  they  dwelt  for  cen- 
turies, passing  through  every  vicissitude  of  prosperity,  advers- 
ity, captivity,  and  restoration,  remaining  a  distinct  people  in 
origin,  institutions,  and  religion,  till  their  own  long-promised 
and  long-looked  for  Messiah,  the  Prince  of  Peace,  came  in 
the  flesh  :  that  among  them  He  suffered  ;  by  their  own  hands 
was  crucified  and  slain  ;  and  among  them  He  rose  from  the 
dead  and  ascended  to  Heaven  whence  He  came :  that  some 
forty  years  after  this  ascension,  this  peculiar  people  were  over- 
thrown in  war,  and  their  great  city,  Jerusalem,  was  broken 
up,  totally  demolished,  and  burned  by  the  Romans,  together 
with  the  holy  temple  of  God  :  that  their  priests  and  people 
were  driven  away  and  scattered,  and  their  worship  and  ordi- 
nances of  religion  perished  from  that  hour  :  that  they  no  more 


THE  COVENANT  EVERLASTING.  203 

possess  their  own  promised  land,  but  are  still  a  distinct  people, 
dispersed  in  almost  all  countries  on  the  globe  :  that  out  of  the 
body  of  this  people,  after  Christ's  ascension,  was  gathered  a 
remnant  acknowledging  their  own  Messiah,  to  whom  Gentile 
nations  became  united,  and  who  held  fast  the  Holy  Word  of 
God,  His  institutions,  ordinances,  and  way  of  salvation,  and 
claimed  to  be  the  true  Israel  of  God,  the  true  seed  of  Abra- 
ham :  that  from  these  the  great  mass  of  the  Jews  broke  off, 
and  so  the  two  bodies  have  been  distinct  ever  since ;  and, 
finally,  that  this  body,  which  flowed  out  of  this  ancient  people, 
and  to  which  the  Gentiles  have  been  united,  have  preserved 
the  religion  of  God,  and  form  a  visible  body  of  believers  in 
all  nations  whither  they  have  gone  ;  and  that  when  they  first 
came  out  from  the  ancient  people,  after  the  ascension  of  our 
Lord,  God  owned  and  acknowledged  them  as  His  true  people, 
witnessing  to  their  preaching  "  both  with  signs  and  wonders 
and  divers  miracles  and  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  according 
to  His  will,"  Heb.  ii.  1-4,  and  from  that  day  has  not  ceased 
to  be  their  Preserver  and  Redeemer,  while  they  remain 
distinct  in  character,  profession,  and  practice,  from  all  other 
people.  What  and  who  are  these  wonderful  people  ?  ISTone 
other  than  the  visible  people  of  God,  constituting  his  visible 
Church,  one  and  the  same  body,  under  both  the  Old  and  New 
Dispensations,  and  so  to  continue  one  body  to  the  end  of  the 
world.     In  proof  of  which  let  it  be  considered  : 

First,  that  the  covenant  which  God  made  (Gen.  xvii.)  with 
Abraham  and  his  seed,  is  everlasting  in  its  provisions  and 
duration,  continuing  through  both  dispensations.  As  already 
observed,  it  is  none  other  than  tlie  everlasting  covenant  of 
grace  in  its  continuation  and  further  manifestation  (Eph.  i- 
4) ;  and,  as  so  continued  and  manifested,  it  existed  for  some 
2,000  years  from  Abraham  to  our  Lord,  who  was  born  and 
died  under  and  in  this  covenant,  which  also  He  came  to 
fulfil  and  not  to  destroy,  Matt,  v.  17 ;  Rom.  xv.  8.  Had  Ho 
abrogated  it  in  any  essential  feature,  or  altogether,  or  had  it 
terminated  at  His  death,  there  would  have  been  some  direct 
intimations,  nay,  more,  some  direct  commands  from  Himself 
and  His  Apostles  to  that  etiect ;  but  there  is  nothing  of  the 


204:  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

kind.  When  the  Jews  rejected  the  Lord  and  were  by  divine 
judgment  cast  off,  the  covenant  with  Abraham  and  his  seed 
was  not  then  and  thereby  destroyed,  for  the  Apostle  pleads  its 
existence  still  in  earnest  language,  saying  that  the  Jews  are 
still  beloved  for  their  father's  sake,  the  gifts  and  calling  of 
God  being  without  repentance ;  neither  will  He  annul  His 
covenant  and  cast  off  His  people  whom  He  foreknew.  They 
have  indeed  cast  themselves  off  from  its  mercies,  through  wil- 
ful and  obstinate  unbelief;  nevertheless,  the  covenant  lives, 
and  hereafter  they  shall  believe,  and  again  become  partakers 
of  its  salvation,  Kom.  xi.  1-36.  In  this  same  chapter  Paul 
argues  that  although  the  mass  of  the  people  were  cut  off  on 
account  of  unbelief,  yet  a  remnant  remained  according  to  the 
election  of  grace.  He  contends  that  the  existence  of  this 
covenant  with  Abraham  was  not  contrary  to  the  law  of  Moses, 
but  agreeable  thereto,  in  full  force  and  effect,  and  to  continue 
in  Gospel  times. 

And  now,  since  the  covenant  is  everlasting,  the  people  of 
the -covenant  must  be  so  too.  The  existence  of  the  one  calls 
for  the  existence  of  the  other.  Nor  are  we  disappointed,  for 
it  is  a  plain  historical  fact  that  the  seed  of  Abraham  exists 
under  both  the  Old  and  New  Dispensations — designated  under 
the  Old  as  the  people  of  God.  "  I  will-  take  you  to  me  for  a 
people  and  be  to  you  a  God,"  Exod.  vi.  7 ;  Deut.  iv.  20  ;  xx. 
24-26  ;  xxix.  13  ;  "  the  people  He  hath  chosen  for  His  inher- 
itance," Ps.  xxxiii.  12  ;  "  the  Lord's  portion,"  Deut.  xxxii.  9  ; 
"  His  peculiar  treasure,"  Ps.  cxxxv.  4 ;  Exod.  xix.  5  ;  "  His 
peculiar,  special  people,"  Deut.  xiv.  2  ;  xxvi.  18  ;  vii.  6  ;  "  the 
seed  of  Abraham,"  Ps.  cv.  6  ;  Isa.  xli.  8  ;  Neh.  ix.  7 ;  "  the 
children  of  Jacob  ;  "  "  Israel  whom  He  has  chosen,"  1  Chron. 
xvi.  13  ;  Ps.  cv.  6 ;  cvi.  5 ;  Isa.  xliii.  20,  44 ;  Deut.  iv.  7 ;  and 
emphatically  in  distinction  and  separation  from  all  other 
people ;  "  the  congregation  which  the  Lord  has  purchased," 
Ps.  Ixxiv.  2 ;  "  the  congregation,"  Deut.  viii.  3  ;  Josh.  viii. 
35,  etc. ;  Levit.  iv.  15  ;  "  the  congregation  of  Israel,"  Exod. 
xii.  3 ;  xvi.  1,  2,  9  ;  Josh.  xxii.  20,  etc. ;  Deut.  xxxi.  80,  and 
"the  congregation  of  the  Lord,  Jehovah,"  Numb,  xxvii.  17  ; 
xvi.  3  ;  Josh.  xxii.  17,  etc.     They  are  designated  under  the 


IDENTITY   OF  TUE   CHURCH   EN"   BOTH   DISPENSATIONS.         205 

New  Dispensation  as  the  same  people  of  God.  Our  Lord 
according  to  the  flesh,  ^vas  of  this  people,  and  in  His  office, 
their  king ;  in  His  mission  of  salvation,  their  minister,  "  a 
minister  of  the  circumcision."  "  He  came  unto  His  own," 
and  ever  treated  them  as  the  chosen  of  God — the  kingdom, 
the  congregation  of  the  Lord — of  which  He  was  to  be  the 
glorj.  He  was  received  by  the  few  and  rejected  by  the 
many.  John,  His  forerunner,  came  to  prepare  "  His  people  " 
for  Him.  The  jjious  rejoiced  in  His  coming,  "  for  God  had 
visited  His  people,"  Luke  i.  IT,  68-77.  And  yet  again  the 
Apostle  recognized  the  Jews  as  the  ancient  people  of  God, 
Acts  vii. ;  xiii.  7 — then,  as  from  the  beginning,  a  peculiar 
people,  separated  unto  God  from  Samaritans  and  Gentiles, 
possessing  the  true  religion,  and  practicing  the  true  worship 
of  God.  Finally,  this  body  of  the  seed  of  Abraham  is  called 
by  two  different  words  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  but  each 
signifying  "  congregation,"  "  assembly."  That  body  is  the 
congregation,  the  assembly  of  the  Lord,  and  these  two  Hebrew 
words  arc  uniformly  translated  in  the  Septuagint,  and  tlie  New 
Testament,  by  a  Greek  word  of  similar  import — a  word  signi- 
fying a  congregation,  an  assembly  called  out — and  is  always 
used  by  the  inspired  writers  of  the  ISTew  Testament  to  desig- 
nate the  congregation  of  God's  people.  "When  it  refers  to  them, 
it  is  always  rendered  in  our  English  Bible  by  the  word 
*''  Church."  Moses  was  with  this  "  Church  in  the  wilderness," 
which  came  down  from  Abraham,  and  which  he  brought  out 
of  Egypt,  to  which  Christ  came,  to  which  His  Apostles  min- 
istered, and  into  which  the  Gentiles  were  gathered. 

Second  :  of  this  body,  existing  under  an  everlasting  cove- 
nant and  under  both  the  Old  and  New  Dispensations,  Christ 
is  the  head.  The  body  cannot  exist  without  the  head,  nor 
the  head  without  the  body.  The  one  head  has  ever  the  same 
body. 

The  headship  of  Christ  in  His  Church,  dates  from  eternity. 
To  this  exalted  station,  when  the  covenant  of  grace  was 
entered  into,  was  He  appointed  by  the  Father,  and  He  put 
on  the  glory  and  assumed  the  power  and  authority  before  the 
world  was,  John  xvii.  1-20 ;  Eph.  i.  19-23 ;  Phil.  ii.  5-10. 


206  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

If  the  multitude  of  the  elect  be  a  host,  He  is  their  leader,  and 
commander,  the  captain  of  their  salvation.  If  thej  be  a 
people,  a  kingdom.  He  is  their  ruler  and  king.  If  thej  be  a 
family,  the  sons  of  God,  He  is  their  elder  brother,  the  first- 
born and  chief  among  them.  If  they  be  the  body,  He  is  their 
head,  having  in  all  things  the  preeminence.  Over  this  body 
Christ  is  to  reign  until  He  subdues  all  enemies  under  His  feet, 
and  presents  it  in  the  upper  world  a  "  glorious  Church,  not 
having  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  .thing,"  Eph.  v.  27 ;  Ps. 
ex.  1-3  ;  1  Cor.  xv.  1-58, 

Christ  reigned  over  the  Church  from  its  first  foundation 
on  earth — over  "  the  sons  of  God,"  from  Adam  to  Abraham, 
and  over  Abraham  and  his  seed.  The  Messiah  was  the  angel 
of  God's  presence  who  appeared  to  Abraham,  covenanted 
with  him,  kept  him,  led  his  seed  down  into  Egypt,  delivered 
them  thence,  and  settled  them  in  their  own  land,  there  ruling 
over  them  until  He  appeared  incarnate,  their  Lord  and  their 
God.  "When  they  rejected  and  crucified  Him,  they  did  not 
dethrone  Him.  A  portion  of  His  visible  people  believed  in 
Him,  His  true  Church  continued.  He  appeared  to  this  por- 
tion after  His  resurrection,  and  gave  them  officers,  ordinances, 
and  laws.  After  His  ascension.  He  endued  them  with  power 
from  on  high  to  go  into  the  four  corners  of  the  earth  and 
gather  His  elect  out  of  every  nation  into  this  one  fold,  so  that 
there  should  be  one  fold  and  one  shepherd,  saying :  "  Lo,  I 
am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world,"  Matt, 
xxviii.  28-29  ;  Mark.  xvi.  15-20  ;  Acts  i,  ii,  etc, ;  Eph,  iv. 
1-16  ;  1  Pet,  ii,  4-9, 

Third :  the  enlargement  of  the  Church  under  the  Old 
Dispensation,  by  the  calling  and  introduction  of  the  Gentiles, 
proves  the  Church  under  both  Dispensations  to  be  one  and 
the  same.  The  confinement  of  the  visible  Church  to  the 
natural  seed  of  Abraham,  was  to  be  temporary  only.  "  A 
father  of  many  nations,"  saith  the  Lord,  "  have  I  made  thee," 
Gen.  xvii.  5.  Jacob  apprehending  this  truth,  in  his  prophecy 
fixes  the  time  when  the  Gentiles,  "  the  many  nations,"  should 
.  be  grafted  in,  namely,  when.  Shiloh  should  come  and  the 
sceptre  depart.    The  civil  state  of  the  people  of  God  would 


IDENTITY   OF   THE   CnURCH   IN   BOTH   DISPENSATIONS.         207 

then  be  broken  up,  and  "  unto  Shiloh  should  the  gathering  of 
the  people  be,"  Gen.  xlix.  10  ;  Dan.  ix.  25-27.  David,  in  Ps. 
Ixxxii.,  and  in  many  others,  predicts  the  glory  of  Christ's 
kingdom,  and  the  gathering  in  under  His  sceptre  of  the 
Gentile  nations.  Isaiah  follows  in  the  same  strain.  The 
Gentiles  hear  the  glad  sound,  and  flow  unto  Zion,  and  ex- 
perience the  glorious  rest  of  Christ,  Isa,  ii.  2  ;  xi,  1-10  ;  xli;. 
1-4;  xlix.  6-23;  Iv.  1-5;  Ix.  1-22;  Ixii.  1-12.  Jeremiah 
and  Haggai  anticipate  the  same  enlargement,  Jer.  xxiii.  5-6  ; 
Hag.  ii.  7.  Simeon  takes  the  infant  Saviour  in  his  arms  and 
rejoices  in  Him  as  "  a  light  to  lighten  the  Gentiles,  and  the 
glory  of  His  people  Israel,"  Luke  ii.  29-31.  Our  Lord  Him- 
self announces  to  the  Jews  the  ingathering  of  the  Gentiles : 
"  And  other  sheep  I  have  which  are  not  of  this  fold  :  them 
also  I  must  bring  and  they  shall  hear  my  voice,  and  there 
shall  be  one  fold  and  one  Shepherd,"  John  x.  16.  In  accord- 
ance with  the  original  design  of  God,  with  the  teaching  of 
the  prophets,  and  of  the  Lord  Himself,  the  Apostle  Paul  was 
made  an  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  and  he  went  into  all  quarters 
to  preach  Christ,  assuring  them  that  God  in  mercy  had  "  made 
them  fellow-heirs  and  of  the  same  body  "  with  His  ancient 
people,  Eph.  iii.  6,  and  that  God  would,  out  of  twain,  that 
is,  of  Jew  and  Gentile,  make  "  one  new  man."  The  Church 
should  have  a  new  composition  as  to  members,  but  be  the 
same  body  still,  Eph,  ii.  15-22.  In  like  manner  preached 
other  Apostles.  When  our  Lord  came,  the  old  Church  was 
not  broken  up,  (save  in  its  civil  constitution,)  nor  was  anything 
wholly  new  set  up  in  its  place,  even  upon  its  ruins.  On  the 
contrary,  the  same  Chnrch  of  God  was  continued,  and,  accord- 
ing to  God's  purposes  and  predictions,  the  Gentiles  were 
engrafted  into  it ;  and  so  it  continues  the  same  forever. 

But,  Fourth  :  many  express  declarations  of  Scripture  may 
be  adduced  to  the  same  effect.  We  have  already  referred  to 
the  original  words  of  the  covenant :  "  I  have  made  thee  a 
father  of  many  nations;"  from  which  the  Apostle  argues,  Rom. 
iv.  16-17,  that  all  who  believe  arc  the  seed  of  Abraham  and 
of  the  same  body,  whoever  they  may  be.  Gal.  iii.  29.  We 
have  referred  also  to  the  words  of  our  Lord  in  John.  xii.  32 : 


208  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

the  Gentiles  shall  be  brought  in  and  there  shall  be  "  one  fold 
and  one  shepherd."  The  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  tells  tliem 
that  they  were  once  without  Christ,  being  "  aliens  from  the 
commonwealth  of  Israel " — out  of  the  communion  of  the 
Church  of  God,  "  and  strangers  from  the  covenants  of  pro- 
mise"— but  now  "  they  were  made  nigh  bj  the  blood  of 
Christ :  "  He  hath  made  peace  between  Jews  and  Gentiles,  and 
made  both  one  ;  that  is,  one  people,  for  He  has  broken  down 
the  middle  wall  of  partition  between  them,  that  of  the  two 
He  might  make  one  new  man,  reconciling  both  Jew  and 
Gentile  unto  God  in  one  body.  "  'Now,  therefore,"  says  he, 
"■  ye  are  no  more  strangers  and  foreigners,  but  fellow-heirs , 
with  the  saints  and  of  the  household  of  God."  How  so  ?  By 
being  incorporated  with  the  ancient  people  of  God  in  that 
household.  Jew  and  Gentile,  fitly  framed  together,  form  a 
building,  a  temple  of  God,  Eph.  ii.  11-22.  Again  he  says 
Eph.  iii.  6,  "  The  Gentiles  should  ("  by  the  purpose  of  God  ")  be 
fellow-heirs  and  of  the  same  body,  and  partakers  of  His  promise 
in  Christ  by  the  Gospel."  The  Jews  stood  at  the  door  of  the 
Church,  and  said  they  should  not  come  in  and  be  of  the 
same  body  with  them.  But  our  Lord  and  His  prophets  and 
Apostles  say,  "  Yes,  they  shall  come  in  and  be  incorporated 
with  you,  and  form  one  body  and  one.  Church  of  God."  In 
Rom.  xi.  1-36,  the  same  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  discourses 
of  the  casting  away  of  God's  people,  not  wholly,  but  ]:)artially  ; 
for,  says  he,  I  am  a  witness  of  it — even  I  who  am  a  child 
of  God  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus — "  I  am  an  Israelite."  "  God 
hath  not  cast  away  His  people  which  He  foreknew."  He 
may  cast  oft*  many  for  their  unbelief,  but  not  all.  Elijah  in 
his  day  pleaded  against  Israel  as  totally  apostate,  and  thought 
that  he  alone  was  left  true  to  God.  But  the  Lord  assured 
him  that  it  was  not  so,  for  He  had  reserved  to  Himself  seven 
thousand  men  who  had  not  bowed  the  knee  to  the  image  of 
Baal.  This,  argues  the  Apostle,  is  an  illustration  of  the  state 
of  Israel  now :  *'  Even  so,  then,  at  this  present  time  also, 
there  is  a  remnant  according  to  the  election  of  grace."  The 
elect  among  the  Israelites  obtain  salvation  by  Jesus  Christ ; 
and  the  rest,  the  unbelieving  mass,  are  left  in  the  midst  of 


IDENTITY   OF   THE   CHURCH   IN    BOTH   DISPENSATIONS.         209 

many  mercies  (Rom.  xi.  8-9)  to  blindness  of  mind  and  hard- 
ness of  licart,  Matt.  xi.  25-26  ;  John  xii.  37-41  ;  Isa.  vi.  9-10. 

But  are  they  cast  off  and  delivered  unto  unbelief  forever  ? 
^o.  Their  casting  away  is  temporary,  "  I  say  then,  have 
they  stumbled  "  (at  the  stone  of  stumbling,  1  Pet.  ii.  Y-8, 
etc.)  "  that  they  should  fall  "  forever  ?  "  God  forbid."  Their 
fall  is  overruled  for  good.  Tlirough  their  rejection  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  the  Gospel  flows  out  more  abundantly  to  tlie  Gentiles. 
Their  loss  will  be  another's  gain ;  their  fall  the  riches  of  tlie 
world.  And  if  their  casting  away  be  the  occasion  of  sending 
out  the  Gospel  for  the  reconciling  of  the  w^orld  unto  God, 
what  will  the  efiect  iipon  the  world  be  wlien  God  shall  turn 
them  again  from  their  unbelief,  receiving  them  as  His  own 
covenant  people,  and  bringing  them  in  their  multitudes  and 
fulness  into  His  Church  again  ?  The  glorious  effect  of  tin's 
return  of  God's  ancient  people  will  be  such  a  testimony  to 
the  truth  of  the  Gospel  and  the  faithfulness  of  God,  as  to 
overwhelm  mankind  with  conviction ;  and,  however  much 
Christianity  may  have  prevailed  and  been  glorious,  now 
the  prevalence  and  glory  will  be  beyond  all  former  bounds, 
and  be  as  "  life  from  the  dead,"  Rom.  xi.  11-15.  The  Apostle 
here  opens  one  of  the  depths  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge 
of  God. 

The  Israelites  ai-e  not  to  be  cast  away  forever.  No.  "  If 
the  first  fruit  be  holy  " — set  apart  and  consecrated  to  God — 
"  the  lump  is  also  holy.  And  if  the  root  be  holy,  so  are  the 
branches."  The  Israelites  are  the  root,  the  stem,  the  branches 
— they  are  "  the  good  olive  tree  "  planted  by  the  Lord — and 
it  is  with  the  believing  remnant  of  this  people  that  the 
Gentiles  are  incorporated.  They  are  taken  from  the  wild 
olive  tree  (formerly  not  the  people  of  God)  and,  some  of  the 
natural  branches  of  the  good  olive  tree  being  broken  off,  the 
Gentiles  are  grafted  in  among  them,  are  put  in  their  place, 
and  so  partake  of  the  root  and  fatness  of  the  good  olive  tree. 
The  same  tree  that  grew  under  the  Old  Dispensation,  con- 
tinues to  grow  under  the  New,  with  this  difference,  that, 
under  the  New,  having  some,  not  all  of  its  branches  broken 
oft*,  it  has  had  grafted  into  their  place  branches  from  a  wild 
14 


210  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHUKCH  OF  GOD. 

olive  tree.  But  it  is  the  same  tree  still,  bearing  upon  its 
stem  all  the  branches,  and  nourishing  all  from  the  fatness  of 
its  own  roots.  And  what  is  still  more  wonderful,  proving 
it  to  be  the  same  tree  still,  hereafter  its  own  natural  branches, 
broken  off  for  a  season,  shall  be  gathered  up  and  grafted 
again  into  their  own  good  olive  tree :  jea,  God  is  able 
to  graft  them  in  again.  Here  is  the  same  tree  living  through 
all  time,  bearing  its  own  natural  branches,  and  branches  wild 
bv  nature,  all  feeding  together  upon  the  same  root  and  fat- 
ness. To  lay  aside  the  iigure :  here  are  the  Israelites — the 
congregation  of  the  Lord — the  visible  Church  of  God,  coming 
out  of  the  Old  Dispensation  into  the  l^ew.  Great  numbers 
are  broken  off  and  separated  through  nnbelief,  but  leave 
behind  a  body  of  believer^  who  continue  the  Church  of  God, 
possessing  the  word,  ordinances,  ministry,  and  the  presence 
and  Spirit  of  God,  and  into  which  body  the  Gentiles  are  called. 
So  it  shall  continue,  composed  mainly  of  Gentiles,  but  in  all 
ages  embracing  also  a  remnant  of  Jews  according  to  the 
election  of  grace,  until  the  time  when  the  fulness  of  the 
Gentiles  shall  come  in  ;  then  all  Israel  shall  be  turned  to  the 
Lord,  grafted  in  again,  and  be  saved.  Comp,  Deut.  xviii. 
15-19  ;  Acts  iii.  22-24  ;  Matt.  viii.  10-12  ;  xxi.  33-43. 

Fifth  :  facts  agree  with  these  declarations  of  Scripture.  If 
we  begin  with  the  fall  and  search  for  the  origin  of  the  visible 
church,  we  discover  the  sons,  the  people  of  God,  existing 
visibly  both  before  and  after  the  flood,  but  in  no  revealed 
organized  form  until  the  call  of  Abraham.  From  that  event 
they  exist  in  a  visible,  organized  form  down  to  the  age  of  the 
Apostles,  past  the  times  of  the  Messiah.     Reverse  the  process, 

.and  run  from  the  age  of  the  Apostles  backward  and  npward, 
and  the  line  and  history  of  God's  visible,  organized  Church 

-runs  np  to  Abraham,  and  runs  out  in  him.  Beyond  Abraliam 
we  cannot  go.  If  that  Church,  under  the  Old  and  Kew  Dis- 
pensations be  not  one  and  the  same,  when  did  the  Church 
under  the  Old  Dispensation  end  ?  And  when  did  the  Church 
under  the  New   Dispensation   begin?     The  end   cannot   be 

Tshown  of  the  one,  nor  the  beginning  be  shown  of  the  other. 

"The  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  dispersion  of  the  Israelites 


IDENTTTT   OF  THE   CHDRCH   IN   BOTH   DISPENSATIONS.        211 

did  not  end  tlie  Cluircli  under  the  Old  Dispensation  ;  nor  give 
a  beginning  to  the  Church  under  the  New.  That  awful  judg- 
ment destroyed  the  civil  constitution  and  state  of  the  Church, 
as  was  designed  and  foretold  of  God.  But  the  visible,  organ- 
ized, spiritual,  believing  body,  holding  under  the  covenant 
the  same  faith,  the  same  religion  as  in  the  beginning,  lived 
on  under  its  glorious  head,  and,  throwing  open  the  doors, 
admitted  the  Gentile.  Here  is  no  break,  no  end  ;  here  is 
no  new  beginning,  no  new  body.  The  Lord  Jesus  is  set  by 
God  upon  Ilis  holy  hill  of  Zion,  Ps.  ii.  6.  He  sits  upon  the 
throne  of  David,  his  father,  upon  his  kingdom,  to  order  it ;  Isa. 
ix.  6-7,  and  He  does  so,  making  no  changes  essential  to  the 
being  or  unity  of  His  Church,  but  only  removing  the  shadows, 
revealing  the  substance,  breaking  down  the  wall  of  partition, 
and  bringing  the  Gentile  world  into  it.  In  this  enlarged  form, 
it  shall  consume  all  other  kingdoms  and  stand  forever,  Dan.  ii. 
44-45. 

The  sum  of  the  proof  that  the  Church  under  both  dispensa- 
tions is  one  and  the  same,  is,  that  the  covenant  which  God 
made  with  Abraham  and  his  seed  is  everlasting,  and  conse- 
quently Abraham  and  his  seed  continue  throughout  all  time : 
that  Christ  is  the  head  of  His  Church  from  the  beginning,  and 
never  has  had  but  the  one  body  :  that  the  Church  under  the 
Old  Dispensation  was  to  be  continued  and  enlarged  under  the 
New  by  the  introduction  of  the  Gentiles,  according  to  God's 
purpose  made  known  in  many  prophecies  :  that  the  Scriptures 
m  many  passages  assert  the  unity  of  the  Church  under  both 
dispensations ;  and,  finally,  all  the  facts  of  the  history  do  agree 
wit! I  these  passages. 

Tlie  unity  now  established  of  the  Churcli  under  both  dis- 
pensations is  of  singular  value  in  enabling  us  to  understand 
the  constitution  of  the  Church ;  its  ordinances,  members,  and 
officers  ;  its  rule  of  faith  and  form  of  government ;  the  nature 
of  its  rites  and  ceremonies,  and  the  spiritual  character  of  its 
worship.  It  moreover  stamps  a  beautiful  simplicity  and 
unity  upon  the  entire  history  of  the  Church,  and  is  the  golden 
chain  that  binds  in  perfect  harmony  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments— the  entire  word  of  God,  from  Genesis  to  Eevelation. 


212  THE   mSTOEY   OF   THE   CHUECH  OF  GOD. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

SUBJECTS  OP  THE  COVENAl^T  MADE  WITH  ABBAHAM  :  ADTJLTS  AKD  CHIL- 
DREN ;  BELIEVERS,  TOGETHER  "WITH  THEIR  INFANT  CHILDREN.— THIS 
CONSTITUTION  OF  MEMBERSHIP  "WITH  THE  TISIBLE  CHURCH  PERMA- 
NENT.— FEMALES  INCLUDED  IN  MALES. 

The  covenant  made  with  Abraham  has  not  unaptly  been 
styled  a  family  covenant,  being  made  with  parents  who  repre- 
sent their  children,  and  whose  fortunes,  in  God's  providence 
and  grace,  their  children  usually  follow.  But  while  the  cove- 
nant appeals  primarily  to  the  family,  it  throws  wide  its  com- 
prehensive arms  and  embraces  all  families  of  believers  in  one 
great  family  and  household  of  faith,  of  which  God  is  the  Father 
and  Christ  Jesus  the  first-born  among  many  brethren — a  king- 
dom of  Heaven  in  which  "  little  children  "  are  found,  Matt. 
xix.  14: — a  flock  which  the  great  Shepherd  feeds,  and  whose 
lambs  he  gathers  with  his  arms  and  carries  in  his  bosom,  Isa. 
xl.  11. 

Who  are  the  persons  with  whom  God  enters  into  covenant? 
Or  who  are  they  whom  God  has  constituted  the  members  of 
His  visible  Church  ?  The  answer,  without  possibility  of  con- 
tradiction, is,  adults  and  children.  Saith  God,  "  I  will 
establish  my  covenant  between  me  and  thee  and  thy  seed 
after  thee  in  their  generations,  for  an  everlasting  covenant  to 
be  a  God  unto  thee  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee.  Thou  shalt 
keep  my  covenant  therefore,  thou  and  thy  seed  after  thee  in 
their  generations.  This  is  my  covenant  which  ye  shall  keep 
between  me  and  you,  and  thy  seed  after  thee.  Every  man- 
child  among  you  shall  be  circumcised  :  it  shall  be  a  token  of 


SUBJECTS   OF   THE   ABKAHAMTC   COVENANTS.  213 

the  covenant  betwixt  me  and  you.  And  lie  that  is  eight  days 
old  shall  be  circumcised  among  you,  every  man-child  in  your 
generations,  he  that  is  born  in  the  house  or  bought  with 
money  of  any  stranger  which  is  not  of  thy  seed :  he  that  is 
born  in  thy  house  and  he  that  is  bought  with  thy  money  must 
needs  be  circumcised,  and  my  covenant  shall  be  in  your  flesh 
for  an  everlasting  covenant.''  Gen.  xvii.  7-11.  Here  are  the 
chapter  and  verse  for  the  original  constitution  of  God's  visible 
Church  in  respect  to  its  members.  It  is  the  original  and  only 
constitution  in  this  respect  ever  given  to  His  church  in  all  the 
Bible.  Here  is  the  only  place  where  we  learn  who  are 
to  be  the  members  of  the  visible  church,  and  the  mode 
of  their  admission,  visibly  and  orderly.  Hence  we  derive 
the  authority  so  to  recognize  and  to  admit  them.  ^Yhat 
was  the  constitution  of  the  Church  in  respect  to  its  mem- 
bers before  Abraham,  as  has  already  been  remarked,  we 
know  not  from  any  revelation  of  Scriptm*e,  and  cannot 
determine  whether  the  infant  seed  of  believei's  were  recog- 
nized as  belonging  to  the  visible  people  of  God  from  the 
beginning,  or  not ;  or  by  what  rite,  if  any,  were  members 
received  into  the  Church.  But  now  in  Abraham,  for  the  first 
time  in  Scripture,  the  constitution  in  respect  to  membere  is 
definitely  fixed  by  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  Himself,  and 
we  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  assent  and  submit  to  it.  Tliey 
are  believing  parents  (or  adults)  together  with  their  infant 
children.  This  constitution  remained  in  full  force  until  our 
Redeemer  came.  He  was  bom  under  it  an  infant  member  of 
the  visible  Church,  and  received  the  sign  and  seal  of  the  fact 
by  circumcision,  according  to  God's  command,  when  He  was 
eight  days  old ;  nor  did  He,  or  His  Apostles  after  Him,  alter 
or  annul  this  constitution  in  any  respect  whatever,  and  it 
remains,  in  perpetual  force,  the  true  and  only  constitution  of 
His  Church  in  respect  to  its  members.  He  has  united  in 
membei-ship  parents  and  children  ;  what,  therefore,  God  has 
joined  together  let  not  man  put  asunder. 

There  are  two  classes  of  members :  first,  adults.  Originally 
these  were  Abraham  and  Sarah,  and  such  servants  of  their 
household    as  were  of  adult  age — believers  upon  their  own 


214  THE   HISTORY   OF    THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD, 

profession,  partakers  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  entitled  to 
all  its  blessings  through  faith — a  faith  which  Abraham  had 
being  yet  nncircumcised,  Gen.  xv.  6  ;  Rom.  iv.  9-12.  God 
entered  into  covenant  with  him  as  a  believer,  "and  he 
received  the  sign  of  circnmcision,  a  seal  of  the  righteousness 
of  the  faith  he  had  being  yet  nncircumcised."  It  is  His 
believing  people  that  God  takes  into  covenant  with  Himself, 
and  with  such  He  set  up  His  visible  Church.  The  qualifica- 
tion for  membership  on  the  part  of  this  class  of  Church  mem- 
bers, namely,  adults,  is  faith;  they  must  give  evidence  of 
being  believers  in  God,  ere  they  can  receive  the  sign  of  the 
covenant,  the  initiatory  rite,  and  be  incorporated  with  the 
body  of  the  visible  Church.  All  adults  entering  the  Church 
from  the  world  must  do  so  on  profession  of  their  faith.  Had 
none  been  brought  into  the  Church  but  the  seed  of  Abraham, 
then  there  never  would  have  been  a  personal  faith  required 
of  any  before  circumcision  ;  since  all  seed  of  believers,  being 
born  in  the  covenant  and  members  of  the  visible  Church, 
would  have  been  circumcised ;  but  the  Church  from  time  to 
time,  admitted  proselytes,  or  converts  from  the  heathen  world, 
and  they  came  in  on  profession  of  their  faith,  and  being  cir- 
cumcised had  all  their  children  circumcised  too.  Great  was 
the  company  of  such  converts  in  the  latter  day  glory  of  the 
Church.  Second,  children.  The  only  child  Abraham  had  at 
the  time  was  Ishmael,  a  lad  of  thirteen  years,  subject  unto  his 
father  and  circumcised  by  him.  It  is  more  than  probable 
there  were  other  children  in  the  very  numerous  household  of 
Abraham  ;  and  if  so  they  were  circumcised  along  with  their 
parents,  Gen.  xiv.  14  ;  xvii.  23-27.  Children  by  the  covenant 
were  to  be  circumcised  when  "  eight  days  old  ;  "  but,  in  cases 
of  necessity,  and  apparently  of  criminal  delay  (as  in  the  case 
of  Moses'  children,  Exod.  iv.  24-26),  they  might  be  circum- 
cised much  older.  Ishmael  was  thirteen  years  old  ;  no  doubt 
other  children  in  the  household  of  Abraham  were  over  eight 
days  old.  Joshua  circumcised  all  the  children  born  in  tlie 
wilderness,  at  Gilgal,  great  numbers  of  whom  had  not  only 
attained  mature  age,  but  must  have  been  fathers  of  families. 
The  reason  of  the  delay  is  satisfactorily  stated.  Josh.  v.  1-8, 


SUBJECTS    OF   THE   ABKAHAMIC   COVENANT.  215 

The  covenant  is  made  with  Abraham  and  his  seed,  repre- 
sented by  him  both  in  his  family  and  in  his  loins — made  as 
really  with  the  seed  as  though  they  were  every  one  alive,  in 
all  their  generations,  and  present  before  God  at  the  making 
of  the  covenant,  and  the  setting  up  of  the  Church.  The  seed 
being  included  are  consequently  born  in  the  covenant — born 
members  of  the  visible  Church,  and  on  this  account  entitled 
to  circumcision.  Circumcision  does  not  bring  them  into  the 
covenant,  nor  make  them  members  of  the  Church ;  they  are 
in  the  covenant  and  members  of  the  Church  already,  by  virtue 
of  descent  from  believing  parents ;  they  are  born  the  cove- 
nanted seed  of  believers,  and  therefore  entitled  to  circumcision. 
The  qualification  for  membership  in  adults  and  children  is 
different.  In  adults  who  come  out  of  the  world,  as  just  now 
stated,  it  is  faith  ;  their  own  professed  faith  in  God  and  His 
salvation  entitles  them  to  circumcision.  But,  in  respect  to 
children  of  believers  already  in  the  Church,  their  only  required 
qualification  (bestowed  upon  them  in  the  sovereign  mercy  of 
God),  is  that  of  birth.  They  are  born  the  seed  of  believers, 
and  therefore  entitled  to  receive  the  sign  of  circumcision.  For 
example :  all  children  born  in  the  wilderness  during  a 
space  of  forty  years  were  not  circumcised,  and  yet  God  dealt 
with  them  all  that  time  as  His  people,  and  so  they  vrere — the 
true  Israel,  because  the  covenanted  descendants  of  Abraham. 
They  were  born  members  of  His  visible  Church ;  and  when 
Joshua  circumcised  them,  their  circumcision  did  not  make 
them  members ;  it  was  only  a  sign  and  seal  to  them  and  all 
others  of  the  fact  of  their  being  already  so,  and  consequently 
entitled  to  circumcision.  If  it  had  been  otherwise  lie  never 
would  have  circumcised  them.  If  children  are  not  born  mem- 
bers of  the  visible  Church,  and  are  made  so  only  by  circum- 
cision, wdiat  becomes  of  the  membership  of  females  who  are 
incapable  of  the  rite  ? 

Children  of  believing  parents  left  orphans  before  circum- 
cision, might,  by  surviving  relatives  or  friends — themselves 
believers — be  presented  for  circumcision  and  brought  up  by 
them  in  the  nurture  of  the  Lord.  In  like  manner  the  children, 
of  heathen  parents,  coming  under  the  control,  or  into  the 


216  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHCKCH   OF    GOD. 

absolute  possession  of  God's  people,  might  be  circumcised. 
Of  this  we  have  instances  in  captives  taken  in  war,  and  in 
serv^ants  procured  of  the  neighboring  heathen.  Indeed  express 
provision  is  made  in  this  covenant  for  the  introduction  of  the 
heathen  servants  and  their  families  into  God's  visible  church, 
Gen.  xvii.  12-13. 

The  children  of  one  believing  parent — the  other  being  an 
unbeliever — are  born  in  the  Church,  a  holy  seed,  and  so  must 
needs  be  circumcised,  Exod.  iv.  24-26  ;  1  Cor.  vii.  12-14 ; 
Acts.  xvi.  1-3. 

By  this  ordination  of  God,  circumcision  could  be  and  was 
administered  to  males  only  ;  but  females  were  represented  in 
the  males,  and  were  considered  as  circumcised,  Gal.  ii.  7-9  ; 
Jer.  ix.  25  ;  Rom.  iv.  9  ;  Acts  x.  45  ;  xi.  2.  The  whole  people 
of  God,  male  and  female,  were  called  "  the  circumcision,"  in 
distinction  from  the  heathen,  who  were  called  "  the  uncircum- 
cision,"  Rom.  ii.  25-27 ;  iii.  30.  Israelitish  females  and 
daughters  of  the  circumcised  were  of  the  circumcised,  and 
therefore  could  not  contract  marriage  with  heathen  men  who 
v/ere  uncircumcised.  Gen.  xxxiv.  14 ;  1  Sam.  xvii.  26.  They 
were,  equally  with  males,  members  of  the  Church  of  God — 
born  so.  So  also  heathen  females  were  of  the  uncircumcised, 
and  therefore  Israelitish  men  should  not  contract  marriage 
with  them,  Judg.  xiv.  3  ;  2  Sam.  i.  20 ;  yet  they  might  be 
proselyted,  converted,  and  received  into  the  Church  of  God  on 
profession  of  their  faith,  Josh.  ii.  1-21  ;  vi.  22-25  ;  Ruth  i. 
16-18  ;  ii.  11-12,  and  so  become  of  the  communion,  and  their 
male  children  be  entitled  to  the  rite. 

This  constitution  of  the  visible  Church  in  respect  to  its 
members,  remains  in  force,  never  having  been  abrogated,  or  in 
any  manner  altered  by  the  Lord.  If  we  say  adults  only,  on 
profession  of  their  faith,  arc  to  be  admitted  members  of  the 
Church,  and  exclude  their  infant  seed,  do  we  not  presumptu- 
ously put  asunder  what  God  has  joined  together  ?  Do  we  not 
annul  His  own  ordination  ?  If  v/e  allow  the  seed  of  believers 
covenant  and  visible  connection  with  the  people  of  God  under 
.  the  Old  Dispensation,  and  deny  it  to  them  under  the  New,  do 
we  not  destroy  the  unity  of  the  Church,  and  introduce  another 


SUBJECTS    OF   CHURCH    MEMBERSHIP.  217 

constitution  in  respect  to  merabersliip  ?  The  Old  and  New 
Dispensations  are  not  antagonistic,  but  essentially  one  and  the 
same ;  and,  in  determining  who  are  the  members  of  the  visible 
Church,  the  whole  Bible  (not  a  part  only)  is  to  be  our  guide. 
The  fundamental  error  of  those  who  deny  the  membership  of 
the  infant  seed  of  believers,  is  a  denial  of  the  unity  of  the 
visible  church  under  both  Dispensations.  In  reply,  two  ques- 
tions only  need  to  be  j^ropounded  :  First,  Is  the  visible^ 
organized  Church,  under  both  the  Old  and  the  New  Dispensa- 
tions, one  and  the  same?  and  second,  Has  the  original  consti- 
tution, in  respect  to  its  members,  ever  been  repealed,  or  in 
any  manner  altered  so  as  to  exclude  infants  ?  The  first  being 
decided  in  the  affirmative,  and  the  second  in  the  negative,  all 
controversy  is  at  an  end.  The  original  constitution  in  respect 
to  members  remains  in  full  force. 

The  unity  of  the  Church  has  been  established.  The  second 
question.  Has  the  original  constitution  in  respect  to  its  mem- 
bers ever  been  repealed,  or  in  any  manner  altered  so  as  to 
exclude  infants  ?  can  be  answered  only  in  the  negative.  No 
repeal  or  alteration  was  made  under  the  Old  Dispensation, 
nor  can  it  be  found  under  the  New ;  for  the  New  Testament 
recognizes  throughout  the  infant  seed  of  believers  as  members 
of  the  visible  church,  as  the  following  induction  of  particulars 
will  show : 

1.  It  makes  that  recognition  by  asserting  and  establishing 
the  perpetuity  of  the  covenant  with  Abraham,  and  the  unity 
of  the  Church,  making  in  connection  therewith  no  alteration 
whatsoever  in  either.  If  the  covenant  with  believers  and 
their  seed,  or  the  constitution  of  the  Church  in  respect  to  its 
members,  was  to  be  abrogated  or  altered  in  gospel  times,  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  cast  out  the  whole  infant  membership, 
(which  had  existed  for  over  nineteen  hundred  years,)  it  is 
incredible  that  no  prophet  ever  spake  of  it ;  that  neither  our 
Lord  nor  any  of  His  Apostles  ever  left  any  command,  or  the 
shadow  of  an  example  to  that  effect.  We  have  chapter  and 
verse  for  the  constitution,  but  none  for  its  abrogation  or 
alteration. 

2.  Our  Lord,  the  Head  of  the  Church,  recognizes  infant 


218  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF    GOD. 

inembersliip  in  the  New  Testament,  In  His  own  person, 
when  He  became  flesh,  He  took  on  Him  the  seed  of  Abraham, 
Heb.  ii.  IG,  and  was  born  under  the  covenant — born  a  member 
of  the  Church,  and  when  eight  days  old,  was  circumcised  in 
evidence  tliereof,  Luke  ii.  1-21.  In  this  Church  w^as  He 
brought  u]^,  upon  her  ministry  He  waited,  her  Sabbaths  He 
observed,  her  Scriptures  He  embraced,  her  synagogues  and 
temple  He  attended,  her  feasts  He  celebrated  ;  He  was  an 
acknowledged  member,  and  to  her  discipline  He  submitted. 
All  other  members  were  "  His  brethren,"  and  in  His  church 
relations  He  was  made  like  to  them,  as  well  as  in  all  other 
things,  sin  excepted,  Heb.  ii.  17.  He  belonged  to  no  other 
Church ;  to  this  Church  He  came,  in  this  Church  He  labored. 
Saith  lie,  "  I  will  declare  thy  name  unto  my  brethren  ;  in  the 
midst  of  the  Church  will  I  sing  praise  unto  thee,"  Heb.  ii.  12 ; 
Ps.  xxii.  22  ;  and  for  this  Churdi  He  shed  His  most  precious 
blood,  Eph.  V.  23-27. 

Again,  in  Christ's  fellowship  with  the  Church ;  His  fore- 
runner John  the  Baptist,  (who  like  Himself  was  circumcised 
when  eight  days  old,)  He  acknowledged  and  fellowshipped 
with  as  a  member  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  a  great  prophet 
in  that  church.  He  fellowshipped  with  Nathaniel,  whom  He 
declared  to  be  an  Israelite  in  wiiom  was  no  guile ;  with  His 
own  Apostles  and  disciples,  whom  lie  called  His  brethren, 
and  ever  with  the  Jews,  as  childi-en  of  the  kingdom — the 
people  and  church  of  God.     They  were  all  born  members. 

And  again,  in  Christ's  instructions  and  practice  :  for  when 
there  were  brought  unto  Him  "little  children,"  "infants," 
Luke  xviii.  15,  that  He  should  put  His  hands  on  them  and 
pray,  and  the  disciples  rebuked  them,  "  Jesus  said.  Sutler 
little  children  and  forbid  them  not  to  come  unto  me,  for  of 
such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  Matt.  xix.  13-15  ;  Mark  x. 
13-16  ;  Luke  xviii,  15-17,  The  children  were  "little,"  such 
as  had  to  be  "  brought,"  He  "  took  them  up  in  his  arms,  and 
laid  His  hands  upon  them,  and  blessed  them,"  "  Of  such," 
"  little  children,"  (not  such  as  have  the  disposition  of  little 
children,)  "  is  the  kingdom  of  God,"  The  point  at  issue 
between  Christ  and  His  disciples  was  suflering  little  children. 


SUBJECTS    OF   CHUKCH   MEMBERSHIP.  219 

the  children  of  Israelites,  to  come  to  Him.  They  forbade 
them.  Christ  said,  "  much  displeased,"  "  Suffer  them  to  come 
to  me."  Then  He  gives  the  reason  :  of  such  "  little  children  " 
is  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  they  compose  a  part  of  and  belong  to 
the  kingdom  of  God,  therefore  let  them  be  brought  to  receive 
my  blessing.  By  the  kingdom  of  God,  or  of  heaven.  He 
intends  that  kingdom  into  which  men  may  "  enter" — the 
Church  itself — of  which  they  may  be  members  here  on  earth, 
and  hereafter  in  a  glorified  state  in  heaven.  The  logical  and 
grammatical  construction  of  this  remarkable  passage  requires 
this  interpretation,  and  admits  of  no  other.  After  blessing 
the  children,  Christ  improved  the  occasion,  and  enjoined  upon 
all  the  cultivation  of  a  childlike  spirit  as  a  necessary  qualifica- 
tion for  a  worthy  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The 
reason  why  the  children  should  be  brought  unto  Him,  and  the 
improvement  which  He  makes  of  the  occasion,  are  distinct, 
and  are  not  to  be  confounded.  He  makes  a  similar  improve- 
ment at  another  time,  "  Except  ye  be  converted,  and  become 
as  little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  Matt,  xviii.  1-1:.  The  conduct  and  language  of  our 
Lord  are  in  perfect  agreement  with  the  relations  which  chil- 
dren had  always  sustained  to  the  Church  since  the  days  of 
Abraham,  and  are  no  other  than  what  would  naturally  be 
looked  for  in  Him.  He  acknowledges  the  lambs  of  His  own 
flock  as  infant  members  of  His  Church. 

3.  His  Apostles  did  the  same.  In  their  own  jiersons  they 
belonged  to  the  Church,  and  claimed  membership,  because  so 
born.  In  their  fellowship  one  with  another,  and  with  all 
Israel  around  them,  they  were  in  fellowship  in  every  way  with 
the  household  of  faith,  and  all  were  members  by  birth. 

In  the  Apostles'  preaching,  infants  are  regarded  as  mem- 
bers of  the  Churcli.  Our  Lord's  last  command  was,  "  Go  ye, 
therefore,  and  teach  all  nations  "  (according  to  the  original 
Greek,  "  disciple,"  "  make  disciples  of  all  nations").  How  could 
the  Apostles  understand  it  ?  As  it  had  been  understood  in  all 
previous  ages  of  the  Church,  When  persons  of  other  nations 
were  proselyted,  "  made  disciples  of,"  they  were  received  into 
the  Church,  and  their  families  along  with  them,  by  circum- 


220  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

cision.  The  cliildren  of  believers  always  went  into  the  Church 
with  their  parents.  Tlie  Apostles  understood  the  command  in 
this  way,  as  their  preaching  proves.  "  Eepent,  and  be  bap- 
tised every  one  of  you  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  for  the 
remission  of  sins,  and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost :  for  the  promise  is  unto  you  and  your  children,  and  to 
all  that  are  afar  off,  even  as  many  as  the  Lord  our  God  shall 
call,"  Acts  ii.  38-39.  It  is  not  material  whether  the  promise 
referred  to  by  Peter,  be  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  or 
of  Christ,  through  whom  the  Spirit  comes,  or  of  the  covenant, 
"  I  will  be  a  God  to  thee  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee,"  It 
includes  the  children  of  his  Israelitish  hearers,  persons  in  the 
covenant ;  and  also  the  children  of  the  far-off  Gentiles,  as 
many  as  the  Lord  shall  call.  Hear  Peter  on  another  occasion : 
"  Ye  are  children  of  the  prophets,  and  of  the  covenant  which 
God  made  with  our  fathers,  saying  unto  Abraham,  And  in 
thy  seed  shall  all  the  kindreds  of  the  earth  be  blessed.  Unto 
you  first,  God,  having  raised  up  His  Son  Jesus,  sent  Him  to 
blesa  you,  in  turning  away  every  one  of  you  from  your  ini- 
quities," Acts  iii.  25-26.  Peter,  the  "  minister  of  the  circum- 
cision," recognizes  the  Israelites  to  be  still  under  the  original 
covenant  with  Abraham,  and  of  course  their  children  with 
them.  And  w4iy  should  Paul,  the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles, 
say  to  the  jailer,  "  Believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,,  and  thou 
shalt  be  saved,  and  thy  house,"  Acts  xvi.  31,  if  the  salvation 
of  his  house,  or  family,  was  not  connected  with  his  faith? 
The  man  and  his  family  go  together.  Here  is  the  covenant  in 
the  mind  and  preaching  of  the  Apostle :  "  I  will  be  a  God 
imto  thee  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee."  So  flows  the  current 
of  Scripture. 

In  the  Apostles'  instructions,  infant  members  of  the  Church 
are  recognized.  Paul,  in  treating  of  marriage,  1  Cor.  vii., 
affirms  the  doctrine  that  Christianity  does  not  require  sepa- 
ration because  either  of  the  parties  is  an  unbeliever.  "  If  any 
brother  hath  a  wife  that  believeth  not,  and  slie  be  pleased  to 
dwell  with  him,  let  him  not  put  her  away.  And  the  woman 
which  hath  an  husband  that  believeth  not,  and  if  he  be 
pleased  to  dwell  with  her,  let  her  not  leave  him,"  1  Cor.  vii. 


SUBJECTS   OF   CHUKCH   l^rEMBEESHIP.  221 

12-13.  They  are  Imsband  and  wife  living  in  allowed  and 
lawful  wedlock.  But  is  not  the  fact  that  one  is  an  unbeliever 
a  sufficient  ground  for  annulling  the  relation  ?  "  N^o,"  says 
the  Apostle,  "  the  believer  is  not,  in  consequence  of  such  a 
union,  cut  off  from  union  with  God,  and  all  the  privileges  of 
faith.  Belief  is  exalted  above  unbelief.  In  the  eye  of  God, 
the  belief  of  the  one  party  rules  the  unbelief  of  the  other,  and 
in  a  manner  sanctifies  it.  For  the  unbelieving  husband  is 
sanctified  by  the  wife,  and  the  unbelieving  wife  is  sanctified 
by  the  husband."  But  to  what  extent  does  this  sanctification 
of  the  unbeliever  by  the  believer  go  ?  Does  it  bring  the 
unbeliever  into  the  Church  ?  No  ;  for  being  an  adult  he  must 
come  iu  on  his  own  profession  of  faith.  What  then  does  it 
accomplish  in  respect  to  him  ?  The  sanctification  reaches  ]iis 
children,  and  overrules  his  unbelief,  and,  being  born  of  a 
believing  mother,  they  are  in  the  covenant,  and  entitled  to  all 
its  privileges  and  mercies.  So  reasons  the  Apostle.  "  Else," 
says  he,  "  were  your  children  unclean,  but  now  are  they  holy." 
The  holiness  of  the  children  stands  in  immediate  connection 
with  the  belief  of  the  one  parent.  In  what  sense,  then,  are 
they  holy  ?  In  the  sense  that  they  are  legitimate  ?  The 
question  of  the  legitimacy  or  illegitimacy  of  the  children  is 
not  before  the  Apostle  at  all.  The  children  are  necessarily 
legitimate,,  because  the  parties  are  already  lawfully  married. 
They  are  husband  and  wife,  1  Cor.  vii.  12-16.  The  children 
are  holy  in  the  sense  of  being  set  apart,  consecrated  to  God. 
In  this  sense  the  word  "  holy  "  is  frequently  used  in  Scripture, 
Exod.  xiii.  2,  12-13 ;  xxii.  29  ;  xxxiv.  19  ;  Numb.  iii.  13 ;  viii. 
16-17 ;  Ezra.  ix.  2  ;  Deut.  xxvi.  19  ;  xxviii.  19  ;  Levit.  xxi. 
6  ;  Numb.  vi.  5.  By  virtue  of  descent  from  a  believing 
parent,  the  children  are  the  seed  of  the  covenant,  holy,  set 
apart,  consecrated  to  God,  and  entitled  to  the  sign  and  seal 
of  their  covenant  relations.  Of  great  comfort  is  this  doctrine 
to  the  believing  parent  who  is  married  to  an  unbeliever ;  for 
such  was  the  doctrine  in  the  Church  of  old,  Acts  xvi.  1-3. 

Finally,  the  Apostles  recognize  infant  membership  in  theii* 
practice.  It  was  their  practice  to  baptize  whole  families,  or 
households.      At  Philippi  the   Apostle   Paul    baptized   two 


222  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    OF   GOD. 

families.  The  Lord  opened  the  heart  of  Lydia  ;  no  mention 
is  made  of  any  other  in  her  house  being  converted  but  herself. 
Nevertheless,  when  she  was  baptized  her  household  was  bap- 
tized at  the  same  time,  Acts  xvi.  14-15.  The  members  of  the 
household  went  with  its  head.  Paul  and  Silas  "  spake  the 
word  to  the  jailer  and  to  all  that  were  in  his  house.  And  he 
took  them  the  same  hour  of  the  night  and  washed  their  stripes, 
and  was  baptized,  he  and  all  his  straightway ;  "  that  is,  all  his 
family,  or  household.  Their  baptism  is  connected  with  and 
follows  his  ;  and  it  is  said  "  he  rejoiced,  believing  in  God  with 
all  his  house,"  that  is,  he,  believing  in  God,  rejoiced  with  all 
his  house.  Again,  Peter  was  to  tell  Cornelius  "  words 
whereby  he  and  all  his  house  should  be  saved,"  Acts  x.  1-48  ; 
xi.  13-14.  Here  the  family  goes  again  with  the  head.  The 
Apostle  Paul  baptized  Crispus  at  Corinth,  1  Cor.  i.  14-16. 
"  He  believed  on  the  Lord  with"  all  his  house,"  Acts  xviii.  8. 
He  baptized  in  Corinth  "  Gains  his  host,"  Kom.  xvi.  23.  He 
was  a  man  of  family,  and  without  doubt  his  family  w^as 
baptized  with  him.  He  baptized  also,  in  the  same  city,  "  the 
household  of  Stephanus,"  1  Cor.  xvi.  15.  In  accordance  with 
this  practice,  the  Apostles  speak  of  churches  being  in  certain 
families,  or  households.  Paul  sends  greetings  to  Priscilla  and 
Aquilla,  and  to  "  the  church  that  is  in  their  house,"  Pom.  xvi. 
3-5  ;  comp.  1  Cor.  16-19.  He  salutes  "  ISTymphas  and  the 
church  which  is  in  his  house,"  Col.  iv.  15,  comp.  Rom.  xvi.  10- 
11 ;  Phil.  iv.  22  ;  2  Tim.  iv.  19.  These  were  believing,  Christian 
families,  parents  and  children.  The  original  word  which  we 
translate  "  house,"  means  "  families."  If  it  be  inquired 
whether  any  children  were  in  these  baptized  families,  and 
in  these  churches  in  the  families,  we  answer  that  while 
children  are  not  expressly  named,  it  was  not  necessary  that 
they  should  be.  It  would  be  difficult  to  select  at  random 
five  or  six  families,  from  as  many  distinct  cities,  and  in  every 
case  fail  to  find  children  in  them.  "We  as  naturally  and  as 
necessarily  conclude  that  children  were  in  these  baptized 
families,  as  that  they  were  in  the  families  of  men  who  were 
bishops  in  the  Church.  The  bishop  was  required  "to  rule 
his  own  house,  or  family,  well,  having  his  children  in  subjec- 


SUBSTITUTION    OF  BAPTISM   FOR   CIEOUMCISION.  223 

tion  with  all  gravity,"  1  Tim.  iii.  1-5.  The  epistles  also  of 
the  Apostles,  addressed  to  the  difierent  churches,  throw  light 
on  their  practice ;  since  they  make  their  appeals  and  com- 
municate their  instructions  to  parents  and  children,  masters 
and  servants.  The  apostolic  churches  were  constituted  of 
families  and  households,  parents  and  children,  masters  and 
servants,  Eph.  vi.  1-9  ;  2  John  vs.  1 ;  Col.  iii.  18-25  ;  iv.  1. 

4.  Nor  has  the  New  Testament  made  any  change  in  the 
sign  and  seal  of  the  covenant,  under  the  New  Dispensation, 
in  the  rite  of  admission  to  the  Church,  so  as  to  render 
infants  incapable  of  receiving  it ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  it 
makes  baptism,  although  differing  in  form,  identical  with 
circumcision  in  nature,  and  equally  applicable  to  the  same 
subjects,  substituting  the  one  for  the  other. 

Circumcision  and  baptism  are  identical  in  nature.  Was 
circumcision  the  divinely  instituted  rite  of  admission  to  the 
Church,  and  a  sign  and  seal  to  the  covenant  of  grace,  under 
the  Old  Dispensation  ?  Such,  in  each  particular,  is  baptism 
under  the  New,  Gen.  xvii.  1-27 ;  Acts  vii.  8  ;  Rom.  iv.  11 ; 
Luke  i.  59  ;  ii.  21 ;  Phil.  iii.  5  ;  John  vii.  22-23  ;  Gen.  xxxiv. 
14-21 ;  Exod.  xii.  48  ;  1  Cor.  xii.  13  ;  Acts  ii.  38-41 ;  viii. 
12-38  ;  ix.  18  ;  x.  48  ;  xvi.  15,  33  ;  xviii.  8  ;  Mark  xvi.  16  ; 
Gal.  iii.  26-27  ;  Col.  ii.  11-12  ;  Matt,  xxviii.  19-20.  Does 
circumcision  signify  the  native  depravity  of  the  human  heart, 
and  its  need  of  regeneration,  and  is  the  rite  the  outward  sign 
of  the  inward  grace  of  regeneration  ?  Deut.  x.  16  ;  xxx.  6  ; 
Jer.  iv.  4 ;  ix.  26  ;  Ezek.  xi.  19-20 ;  xxxvi.  25-28 ;  Levit. 
xxvi.  40-12  ;  Acts  vii.  51 ;  Col.  ii.  13  ;  Eom.  ii.  28-29  ;  Phil, 
iii.  3.  Baptism  signifies  precisely  the  same,  John  iii.  3-6  ; 
Titus  iii.  1-6  ;  1  Pet.  iii.  21 ;  Col.  ii.  11-14 ;  Eom.  vi.  1-11 ; 
Acts  xvi.  15  ;  viii.  13,  18-24.  Does  circumcision  signify  the 
condemnation  of  the  sinner  under  the  law  of  God,  and  his 
need  of  faith  in  the  Redeemer  for  justification  unto  life 
eternal  ?  Acts  vii.  51-53  ;  Jer.  ix.  25-26  ;  Col.  ii.  13  ;  Rom. 
iv.  9-12  ;  Gal.  iii.  24-29  ;  John  viii.  56  ;  Heb.  xi.  13.  Bap- 
tism signifies  precisely  the  same.  Acts  ii.  38 ;  viii.  36-38  ;  x. 
47-48  ;  xvi.  27-34 ;  Gal.  iii.  21-27 ;  Mark.  xvi.  16.  Is  cir- 
cumcision prophetic,   and   does  it   look  forward  to   Christ  ? 


224:  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH    OF   GOD. 

Baptism  looks  backward  to  Him,  He  is  the  great  object  in 
which  they  both  centre,  Rom.  iv.  9-12  ;  Mark  xvi.  16.  Now, 
if  our  Lord,  in  ordaining  the  rite  of  admission  to  the  Church 
after  His  coming,  had  so  clianged  its  nature  as  to  make  it 
not  only  altogether  different  from  the  rite  of  admission  ordained 
before  His  coming,  but  wholly  inapplicable  to  the  same 
objects,  then  indeed  there  might  be  sure  ground  to  suppose, 
(even  without  any  express  command  to  that  effect,  which  we 
deem  most  necessary  in  so  important  a  matter,)  that  He  did 
intend  to  set  aside  the  original  constitution  of  His  Church  in 
respect  to  its  members,  and  to  restrict  the  rite  of  admission  to 
one  class,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other.  But  He  has  made  no 
such  change  in  the  nature  and  signification  of  the  rite  of 
admission ;  consequently,  circumcision  and  baptism,  being 
identical  in  nature,  are  applicable  and  belong  to  the  same 
subjects.  The  Lord,  so  far  as  we  can  discover  His  will  from 
the  nature  of  the  rite  of  admission  under  the  ISTew  Dispensa- 
tion, has  made  no  change  in  relation  to  the  members  of  His 
Church  as  previously  determined  by  Him  under  the  Old.  He 
has  merely  given  the  rite  a  milder  form  and  a  wider  applica- 
tion, for  it  may  be  administered  alike  to  male  and  female. 
Baptism  has  come  in  the  place  of  circumcision  ;  the  one  has 
been  subsituted  for  the  other.  The  prophetical  design  involved 
in  the  rite  of  circumcision  called  for  some  change  or  modifica- 
tion of  the  rite  itself,  when  that  design  should  in  due  course 
of  time  be  fulfilled.  Circumcision  v.-as  '•  not  of  Moses,"  but, 
long  before  him,  "  of  the  fathers."  It  not  only  implied  a 
profession  of  faith  in  Christ,  but  also  a  firm  expectation  of  His 
coming  in  the  flesh,  of  the  seed  of  Abraham.  It,  therefore, 
looked  forward  to  Christ,  and  was  prophetical  of  His  coming. 
When  He  came,  the  prophetical  character  that  was  in  cir- 
cumcision was  fulfilled,  and  the  rite  expired  by  the  statute  of 
its  own  limitation.  To  continue  it  after  Christ  came,  would 
be  to  deny  that  He  liad  come.  This  is  what  the  unbelieving 
Jews  did,  and  do  even  to  this  day.  They  deny  Jesus  of 
l!s'azareth,  and  circumcise  unto  a  Messiah  to  come.  For  this 
reason,  the  Apostles  would  not  suffer  the  Jews  who  believed, 
to  circumcise  their  children,  and  bind  themselves  to  conform 


SUBSTITUTION   OF    BAPTISM   FOR   CIECUMCISM.  225 

to  all  the  moral  and  ceremonial  laws,  as  tliougli  Clirist  had 
not  come,  Acts  xxi.  21,  for  from  all  these  things  He  had 
delivered  them.  Nor  would  they  allow  professed  converts 
from  among  the  Jews,  who  adhered  to  these  notions,  to  compel 
the  Gentiles  to  be  circumcised,  Acts  xv.  Much  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Galatians  is  taken  up  in  repelling  these  notions,  Gal. 
ii.,  iii.,  iv.,  vi.  12-18  ;  comp.  Eom.  ix.  30-33  ;  x.  1-12  ;  Phil, 
iii.  1-11.  The  fact  that  Paul  circumcised  Timothy,  proves 
nothing  to  the  contrary,  for  he  gives  the  reason — an  innocent 
conformity  to  the  prejudices  of  the  Jews.  As  he  expresses 
it,  "  to  the  Jews  I  became  as  a  Jew."  His  design  was,  "  to 
gain  the  Jews ;  "  to  send  Timothy  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel 
among  them,  who  being  not  only  a  descendant  of  a  Jew,  but 
a  circumcised  Jew  himself,  would  gain  freer  access  to  anu 
greater  influence  over  them.  Acts  xvi.  1-3.  The  former  rite 
being  laid  aside,  what  other  rite  was  substituted  in  its  stead  I 
That  other  rite  was  the  rite  of  baptism. 

Baptism  is  a  sacrament  of  the  New  Testament,  ordained 
by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  after  His  resuiTection,  and  immedi- 
ately before  His  ascension — the  rite  of  admission  into  the 
visible  Church,  and  the  sign  and  seal  of  the  covenant  of  grace, 
to  be  continued  in  His  Church  to  the  end  of  the  world.  "  Go 
ye,  therefore,  and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost : 
teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  com- 
manded you :  and,  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the 
end  of  the  world,"  Matt,  xxviii.  10-20  ;  Mark  xvi.  15-20. 
The  two  sacraments  of  the  New  Testament  have  Christ  as 
their  author.  He  instituted  the  Lord's  supper  on  the  night 
He  was  betrayed ;  then,  forty  days  after,  baptism.  The 
Apostles,  who  partook  of  the  Lord's  supper  at  its  institution, 
were  unbaptized  ;  and,  so  far  as  there  is  any  evidence  to  the 
contrary,  were  never  baptized  at  all  with  the  baptism  insti- 
tuted by  Christ.  As  successors  to  our  Lord,  and  as  Apostles, 
they  were  the  first  persons  appointed  and  authorized  to  admin- 
ister the  rite,  Matt.  xxvi.  20-29  ;  1  Cor.  xi.  23,  comp.  Matt, 
xxviii.  18-20  ;  Acts  i.  1-9. 

It  is  called  the  baptism  of  Christ,  because  it  is  ordained 
15 


226  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

of  Christ  as  its  author,  and  has,  in  a  peculiar  manner,  Christ 
as  its  end.  The  whole  form  of  it  is  reduced  to  the  abbrevia- 
tion, "  Baptism  in  the  name  of  Jesus,"  Acts  ii.  38 ;  viii.  16, 
34-40  ;  X.  47-48  ;  xix.  5  ;  Rom.  vi.  13  ;  Gal.  iii.  27.  It  is  so 
called  also  to  distinguish  it  from  the  baptism  of  John,  Matt, 
xxi.  25  ;  Luke  vii.  29  ;  Acts  xviii.  25  ;  xix.  1-5,  which  was 
of  divine  authority,  for  God  sent  John  a  forerunner  of  Christ, 
and  gave  him  commandment  to  baptize,  Matt.  xxi.  25  ;  John 
i.  33.  Yet  his  baptism  was  wholly  a  different  ordinance, 
and  was  not  in  any  sense  Christian  baptism,  as  is  shown  by 
the  New  Testament  in  the  following  particulars :  First, 
John's  baptism  is  different  from  Christ's  baptism  in  its  origin. 
He  did  not  get  his  authority  from  Christ ;  for,  at  the  time  he 
came  baptizing,  he  did  not  know  the  Lord  as  the  Christ  at  all. 
John's  authority  was  from  Him  who  sent  him  to  be  a  fore- 
runner and  to  baptize,  even  God  the  Father,  John  i.  31-34 ; 
Mai.  iv.  4-6.  As  to  the  nature  and  design  of  John's  baptism, 
he  was  sent  to  "  prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord,"  Luke  iii.  1-6  ; 
"  to  make  ready  a  people  prepared  for  the  Lord,"  Luke  i.  17. 
Therefore,  he  came  preaching  "  Kepent  ye,  for  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  at  hand,"  Matt  iii.  2.  "  The  long-promised  Mes- 
siah- is  among  you  ready  to  be  revealed  ;  break  off  your  sins 
by  repentance,  that  they  may  be  blotted  out ;  be  baptized  on 
profession  of  your  repentance,  and  so  prepare  yourselves  to 
receive  and  believe  on  Him  when  He  appears."  His  baf>tism 
was  purely  what  the  New  Testament  calls  it,  "  a  baptism  of 
repentance,"  and  of  preparation  to  receive  Christ.  The  only 
profession  was  that  of  repentance,  and  a  determination  to 
receive  Christ  when  He  should  appear.  Acts  xix.  1-5  ;  xiii. 
24.  Li  the  form  of  administration,  John's  baptism  is,  "  I 
baptize  thee  unto  repentance,  and  preparation  for  the  coming 
Messiah."  Christ's  baptism  is,  "  I  baptize  thee  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord,"  the  Messiah  who  has  come ;  and,  in  fall  form, 
"  I  baptize  thee  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son, 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  Matt,  xxviii.  19-20 ;  Acts  viii.  16  ; 
X.  48 ;  xix.  1-5.  John's  baptism  died  with  him  ;  after  his 
death  we  hear  no  more  of  it,  except  as  having  passed  away, 
and  as  not  being  true  Christian  baptism.     John  instituted  no 


John's  baptism  not  cheistian  baptism.  227 

new  rite  of  admissiou  into  the  Church  ;  he  made  no  changes. 
It  was  not  his  business.  He  Labored  in  the  Cliurch  of  the  Old 
Dispensation  as  it  then  was.  The  Church  relations  of  all  whom 
he  baptized  remained  the  same.  They  continued  to  worship 
in  the  temple,  and  to  circumcise  their  children,  and  to  look 
for  Christ.  When  Christ  came  he  retired.  He  knew  his 
place.  He  was  not  the  bridegroom,  but  the  friend  of  the 
bridegroom.  Said  he,  "  He  must  increase,  but  1  must  de- 
crease." After  Christ  appeared  and  he  knew  Him,  he  directed 
all  his  disciples  to  look  to  Him,  John  iii.  23-36.  AVhen  Christ 
was  about  to  ascend,  then  the  New  Dispensation  began  ;  then 
He  instituted  on  His  own  authority  His  own  rite  of  baptism, 
and  made  it  permanent  in  the  Church,  the  ancient  rite  of 
admission  giving  way  to  it.  Finally  and  conclusively,  the 
Apostle  Paul  contrasts  John's  baptism  with  Christian  baptism, 
shows  the  difference,  sets  aside  John's  baptism,  and  baptizes 
twelve  of  his  disciples,  whom  he  found  at  Ephesus,  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  bestowing  on  them  an  ordinary 
accompaniment  of  the  baptism  of  Christ — the  Holy  Ghost  in 
His  miraculous  influences.  Acts  xix.  1-5.  No  power  of 
reason,  and  no  ingenuity  of  criticism,  can  set  aside  this  fact. 

The  baptism  of  Christ's  disciples  during  His  ministry,  (for 
our  Lord  baptized  no  one,)  was  precisely  that  of  John — pre- 
paratory and  introductory  to  the  full  revelation  of  Christ  to 
His  Church,  and  passed  away  with  the  times  and  circum- 
stances which  called  it  into  existence,  John  iii.  24-26  ;  iv. 
1-3  ;  Matt.  x.  T  ;  iii.  2  ;  iv.  IT  ;  Luke  x.  9. 

That  baptism,  as  instituted  by  our  Lord,  came  into  the 
place  of  circumcision,  is  a  matter  of  fact  and  of  positive 
assertion.  The  fact  that  the  inspired  Apostles  would  not 
suffer  circumcision  to  be  continued,  has  been  already  shown; 
and  it  is  also  in  evidence  that  they  required  all  Israelites  and 
Gentiles,  who  would  profess  Christ  and  be  numbered  among 
His  followers,  to  be  baptized.  Acts  ii.  38-41 ;  ix.  18 ;  x. 
47-48  ;  xvi.  15,  33 ;  viii.  8  ;  xix.  5  ;  xxii.  16  ;  Rom.  vi.  3  ; 
Eph.  iv.  6  ;  Col.  ii.  12 ;  1  Cor.  i.  14-16  ;  Gal.  iii.  27.  And 
all  tbe  ministry  of  God  after  the  Apostles  followed  in  their 
footsteps,  Acts  viii.  12,  13,  16,  36-38.     They  assert  not  only 


228  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

the  identity  of  baptism  and  circumcision,  but  the  substitution 
of  the  one  in  the  place  of  the  other,  Col.  ii.  8-12.  "  In 
whom,"  i,  e.,  in  Christ,  "  also  ye  are  circumcised  with  the 
circumcision  made  without  hands,  in  putting  off  the  body  of 
the  sins  of  the  flesh  by  the  circumcision  of  Christ."  That 
inward  grace  of  regeneration  signified  by  the  outward  sign 
of  circumcision,  the  Colossians  had  experienced — they  had 
been  circumcised  into  Christ.  Plow  ?  By  a  literal  ci]-cum- 
cision  ?  No.  But  by  baptism.  ;  being  "  buried  witli  Him 
in  baptism,  wherein  ye  are  risen  with  Him,  through  the  faith 
of  the  operation  of  God  who  hath  raised  Him  from  the  dead." 
Circumcision  into  Christ  under  the  Old  Dispensation  is 
baptism  into  Christ  under  the  ITew. 

To  the  foregoing  positive  evidence  that  the  original  con- 
stitution of  the  Church  in  respect  to  membership  has  been 
neither  abrogated  nor  altered  in  any  manner,  so  as  to  exclude 
infant  members,  and  remains  the  same,  including  believers 
witli  their  infant  children,  there  is  added  subsidiary  or  col- 
lateral evidence  to  the  same  effect. 

1.  The  Israelites  never  objected  against  Christ  and  His 
Apostles,  that  they  cast  theh'  children  out  of  the  Church,  and 
cut  them  off  from  the  privileges  and  blessings  of  the  covenant 
with  Abraham.  The  Apostle  James  and  the  elders  of  the 
Church  in  Jerusalem,  Acts  xxi.  18-25,  apprised  Paul  that 
there  were  many  thousands  of  believing  Jews  who  were 
zealous  of  the  law,  and  "  are  informed  of  thee  that  thou 
teachest  all  the  Jews  which  are  among  the  Gentiles  to  forsake 
Moses,  saying  that  they  ought  not  to  circumcise  their  children, 
neither  to  walk  after  the  customs."  ITo  doubt,  judging  from 
Acts  XV.,  his  epistle  to  the  Galatians,  and  various  remarks  in 
his  writings,  the  Apostle  taught  these  very  things,  but  not  in 
destruction  of  the  covenant  with  Abraham,  for  that  he  afiirms 
to  be  in  existence  and  to  be  everlasting  with  God's  people ; 
nor  to  deprive  children  of  all  their  rights  and  privileges  under 
that  covenant,  for  his  preaching  and  practice  were  the  opposite 
of  this,  as  we  have  seen  ;  but  he  taught  these  things  to  rebuke 
a  legal  and  self-righteous  spirit,  which  still  possessed  many  of 
the  believing  Jews,  and  which  placed  in  jeopardy  their  salva- 


EECOGNITION   OF   INFANT   MEMBEESHIP.  229 

tion  by  the  imputed  righteousness  of  Christ  alone,  and  indeed 
seriously  affected  their  faith  in  Christ ;  for,  by  retaining  rites 
and  ceremonies  which  were  fulfilled  in  Him,  and  so  ceased  to 
be  binding,  they  gave  countenance  to  the  opinion  of  the 
unbelieving  Jews,  that  our  Lord  was  an  impostor,  and  that 
the  true  Messiah  had  not  yet  come.  The  views  and  teachings 
of  Paul  were  those  of  all  the  Apostles,  and  were  embraced  by 
all  true  believers  among  the  Jews.  Save  the  unwarrantable 
objection  of  these  legalists,  we  hear  nothing,  in  all  thechm'ches 
founded  by  the  Apostles,  of  complaint  in  respect  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  children  from  their  Church  and  covenant  relations. 
jN^o  disputes,  no  difficulties,  were  raised  on  this  point.  The 
ancient  covenant  was  dear  to  the  ancient  people  of  God,  and 
the  recognition  of  their  children  in  that  covenant  was  likewise 
dear  to  them ;  and  the  strong  presumption  is,  that  had  the 
Lord  or  His  Apostles  altered  the  original  constitution  of  the 
Church  in  respect  to  its  members,  there  would  not  only  have 
been  evidence  to  that  effect  in  the  New  Testament  Scriptures, 
but  some  traces  of  opposition  or  inquiry  in  the  early  converts 
among  the  Jews  ;  but  there  is  nothing  of  the  hind. 

2.  Infant  membership  agrees  with  the  natural  and  estab- 
lished order  of  God's  dealings  with  men  in  His  providence ; 
namely,  that  children  follow  the  fortunes  of  their  parents. 
They  inherit,  in  general,  their  mental,  moral,  and  physical 
constitution  ;  their  condition,  fortune,  honor,  or  shame  ;  their 
religion,  politics,  and  citizenship. 

3.  Infant  membership  agrees  with  God's  dealings  with 
men  in  all  His  covenants :  His  covenant  of  life  with  Adam, 
His  covenant  with  Noah,  and  with  other  covenants  made  at 
different  times  with  His  people,  Josh.  viii.  35  ;  Dent.  xxix. 
1-29.  Also  with  His  declarations  concerning  Himself,  "  I 
will  be  the  God  of  all  the  families  of  Israel,"  Jer.  xxxi.  1 ; 
with  His  commands,  which  are  given  to  parents,  and  thi'ough 
them  to  children's  children,  Deut.  viii.  1-20  ;  Eph.  vi.  1-4 ; 
with  His  promises,  "  But  the  mercy  of  the  Lord  is  from  ever- 
lasting to  everlasting  upon  them  that  fear  Him,  and  His  right- 
eousness unto  children's  children,"  Ps.  ciii.  17 ;  Exod.  xx. 
5-6  ;   and  with  His  threatenings,  ''  For  I  the  Lord  thy  God 


230  THE   HISTOKT   OF  THE   CHURCH   OF    GOD, 

am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  iDiquity  of  the  fathers  upon 
the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generations  of  them 
that  hate  me,"  Exod.  xx.  5 — all  naturally  agreeing  with  His 
covenant,  "  I  will  be  a  God  to  thee  and  to  thy  seed  after 
thee." 

4.  Infant  membership  harmonizes  with  the  natural  and 
spiritual  affections  of  parents.  God  not  only  enters  into  cove- 
nant with  parents  who  put  their  trust  in  Him,  but  with  their 
children  also,  and  He  regards  and  treats  them  differently  from 
the  children  of  unbelievers.  The  hearts  of  parents  rejoice  in 
the  relation  which  their  children  sustain  towards  God,  and  in 
all  the  precious  promises  and  provisions  of  the  covenant. 

5.  The  moral  effect  of  infant  membership  is  good  upon  the 
parents.  It  fills  their  hearts  with  gratitude  to  God  for  His 
merciful  remembrance  of  their  children,  strengthens  their  faith 
and  hope,  encourages  them  in  their  labors  and  cares  for  their 
salvation,  comforts  them  with  the  sympathy,  aid,  instruction, 
prayers,  and  watchful  care  of  the  Church,  and  fills  their 
mouth  with  strong  arguments  when  they  would  press  the 
claims  of  religion  upon  their  children. 

The  moral  effect  of  such  membersliip  is  good  as  to  the 
children  themselves.  Early  taught  the  nature  of  that  cove- 
nant which  God  has  graciously  entered. into  with  their  believ- 
ing parents  and  with  themselves  as  their  children,  and  that 
the  sign  and  seal  of  their  membership  with  God's  visible 
Church  has  been  put  upon  them,  their  minds  will  be  more 
open  to  serious  impressions,  and  more  obedient  to  the  voice 
of  their  parents,  to  that  of  the  Church,  and  of  God. 

The  Church  is  also  benefited.  Pastors  will  remember  the 
injunctions  of  the  Great  Shephei'd,  "  Feed  my  lambs,"  and  be 
encouraged  to  bring  the  little  children  to  Him  for  a  blessing. 
Officers  and  members  will  be  prompted  to  institute  means  of 
religious  instruction  and  training  for  the  children  and  youth, 
and  offer  continually  fervent  prayers  for  their  salvation.  In 
fine,  the  whole  effect  is  to  bring  forward  the  rising  generation 
as  the  hope  of  the  Church  and  the  world,  and  to  set  on  foot 
every  available  means  for  their  instruction  in  righteousness, 
and  education  for  usefulness  and  ha]3piness. 


CONSTITUTION    OF   MEMBERSHIP    PERMANENT.  231 

6,  Facts  ulso  prove  that  whenever  and  wlierever  the 
Church  has  faithfully  performed  her  duty  to  the  children  of 
the  covenant,  God's  special  blessing  has  descended  from 
generation  to  generation. 

The  sum  of  the  evidence,  both  direct  and  indirect,  of  the 
Church  membership  of  the  infants  of  believers  is,  that  in  the 
original  constitution  of  His  visible  Church  in  respect  to  its 
members,  God  ordained  them  such :  that  this  visible  Church 
set  up  in  Abraham  is  one  and  the  same  under  both  Dispen- 
sations :  that  the  original  constitution  as  to  members,  never 
having  been  revoked  or  altered,  remains  in  full  force :  that 
the  infant  seed  of  believers  are  recognized  as  members  of  the 
Church  in  the  New  Testament,  by  our  Lord  and  His  Apostles : 
that  circumcision — the  initiatory  rite  under  the  Old  Dispen- 
sation— and  baptism — the  initiatory  rite  under  the  ISTew — differ 
in  form,  but  are  identical  in  nature :  that  baptism  has  come 
into  the  place  of  circumcision,  and  is  applicable  to  the  same 
subjects :  that  in  preaching,  the  Apostles  recognize  children 
as  interested  in  the  Gospel  and  covenant  of  God  :  that  in  their 
practice  they  baptized  whole  families  and  households,  and 
addressed  their  epistles  to  churches  composed  of  families  and 
households,  masters  and  servants,  parents  and  children.  And, 
further,  that  the  believing  Jews  never  objected  against  our 
Lord  and  His  Apostles  that  they  cast  their  children  out  of 
the  Church,  and  cut  them  off  from  the  privileges  and  blessings 
of  the  covenant :  that  infant  membership  agrees  with  the 
natural  and  established  order  of  God's  dealings  with  men, 
both  in  His  providence  and  in  His  AVord  :  that  it  harmonizes 
with  the  natural  and  spiritual  affections  of  parents  :  that  the 
moral  effect  of  this  constitution  of  His  Church  is  good,  and 
that  God  crowns  it  with  His  blessing. 

A  few  particulars  remain  to  be  noticed  in  relation  to  the 
membership  of  the  seed  of  believers  with  the  visible  Church 
of  God  : 

First :  their  membership  under  the  covenant  docs  not  of 
itself — irrespective  of  proper  qualifications  in  them — entitle 
them  to  a  full  participation  in  all  the  ordinances  of  the 
Church ;  for,  in  the  early  years  of  childhood,  they  are  inca- 


232  THE    HISTOKY    OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

pable,  from  lack  of  sufficient  intellectual  development  (what- 
ever may  be  the  sanctified  state  of  their  aifections),  of  under- 
standing, and,  consequently,  of  appreciating  all  the  ordinances 
of  the  Church  to  which  adults  and  more  advanced  members 
have  access.  The  rale  of  their  participation  under  the  Old 
Dispensation  was  none  other  than  their  ability  to  discern  the 
true  nature  of  the  ordinances — the  passover,  for  example. 
The  ability  would  be  earlier  in  some  than  in  others,  according, 
on  the  one  hand,  to  the  pains  taken  in  their  training  to  make 
them  intelligent  and  true  worshippers ;  and,  on  the  other,  to 
the  degree  of  their  mental  and  moral  development.  Hence, 
some  might  be  brought  forward  much  earlier  than  others ; 
thus,  no  rale  fixing  the  precise  time  could  be  laid  down.  It 
was  at  twelve  years  of  age  that  our  Divine  Master  appears 
going  up  with  His  parents  to  the  passover  in  Jerusalem,  Luke 
ii.  41-52.  Whatever  the  age  might  be,  like  all  other  partakers, 
they  were  required  to  be  at  least  ceremonially  clean,  and  free 
from  all  outward  objections ;  of  spiritual  inward  purity, 
God,  who  alone  knows  the  heart,  would  be  the  judge. 

When  we  turn  to  the  'Ne'w  Dispensation,  the  same  prepa- 
ration is  required.  The  Apostle  Paul  (1  Cor.  xi.  17-31)  con- 
demns the  Corinthians  for  an  unworthy  and  vacked  approach 
to  the  Lord's  supper,  and  lays  it  down  as  a  rule  that  they 
only  should  partake  who  were  able  to  discern  the  Lord's  body. 
Worthy  communicants  needed  an  intellectual  and  moral  prep- 
aration, and  freedom  from  all  obstacles  arising  from  offences 
against  the  rules  and  discipline  of  the  Church.  So  long  then 
as  one  is  unable  to  discern  the  Lord's  body,  he  can  have  no 
right,  nor  should  he  be  permitted  to  cat  and  drink  at  the 
Lord's  table.  We  reach  therefore,  this  statement,  that  the 
qualification  for  Church  membership  in  an  infant,  is  simply 
his  being  born  of  believing  parents  already  in  covenant  with 
God.  The  qualification  for  this  participation  in  the  Lord's 
supper,  is  his  being  able  to  discern  the  Lord's  body.  The  two 
are  distinct.  An  individual  may  possess  the  one  and  not  the 
other. 

Second  :  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  this  original  constitution 
of  Hjs  Church  in  respect  to  membership  should  be  preserved ; 


CONSTITUTION   OF   MEMBERSHIP    PERMANENT.  233 

for  a  penalty  is  attached  to  its  violation,  Gen.  xvii.  14,  "  And 
the  uncircumcised  man  child,  whose  flesh  of  his  foreskin  is 
not  circumcised,  that  soul  shall  be  cut  off  from  his  people :  he 
hath  broken  my  covenant."  An  explanation  of  this  passage 
was  attempted  in  a  pi^evious  chapter.  The  penalty  is  not 
only  designed  to  influence  parents  to  have  their  children  cir- 
cumcised, (otherwise  they  could  not  be  received  into  the  com- 
munion of  God's  people,)  but  to  affect  the  Church  standing 
of  parents  themselves ;  for,  by  not  circumcising  their  children, 
they  would,  of  and  for  themselves,  renounce  the  covenant ; 
and,  according  to  the  command,  be  cut  off  from  God's  people. 
In  this  way  only  could  the  unconscious  man  child  break  the 
covenant  of  God  and  be  cut  oft".  The  same  rule  remains 
unchanged.  Parents  who  refuse  to  have  the  sign  and  seal  of 
membership  applied  to  their  children,  do  by  that  act  deny 
this  constitution  of  the  Church  in  respect  to  its  members,  and 
cut  themselves  off  and  their  children  from  the  covenant. 
Laboring  under  this  error,  which  is  not  soul- destroying,  they 
may  be  permitted  to  commune  with  the  Church,  but  not  to 
continue  members  in  full  faith  and  standing,  for  the  obvious 
reason  that  in  these  things  they  are  not  one  with  the  other 
members.  Should  they  be  considered  such,  they  would  not 
only  be  a  disturbing  element  in  the  Church,  but  its  consti- 
tution, in  a  respect  so  important  and  precious,  might  not  only 
be  endangered  through  their  growing  numbers  and  influence, 
but  be  ultimately  overthrown,  which  is  not  the  will  of  God. 

Third  :  the  infants  of  all  parents  who  adhere  to  the  cove- 
nant, and  in  their  lives  are  free  from  gross  and  scandalous 
vices,  should  receive  the  sign  and  seal  of  the  covenant.  Our 
warrant  for  this  statement  is  the  practice  of  the  Church  under 
the  Old  Dispensation,  and  the  absence  of  any  alteration  or 
direction  to  the  contrary  under  the  New.  If  it  be  urged  that 
none  but  regenerated  parents  can  truly  embrace  the  covenant 
for  themselves  and  their  childi-en,  and  therefore  present  them 
for  the  sign  and  seal,  then  it  would  follow  that  actual  regene- 
ration is  essential  to  any  connection  with  the  covenant  at  all, 
which  would  exclude  all  infants  from  it  until  able  to  give 
credible  evidence  of  a  change  of  heart,  and  oblige  all  who  are 


234  THE   HISTOKT   OF  THE   CUUKCH   OF   GOD. 

conscious  of  none  to  withdraw  from  it.  Then,  the  command 
of  God  to  apply  the  seal,  and  the  promise  of  God,  "  I  will  be 
a  God  to  thee  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee,"  would  both  ftill  to 
the  ground.  Kather  let  it  be  affirmed  that  the  sign,  (whether 
circumcision  or  baptism,)  was  that  of  connection  with  the 
visible  Church,  and  brought  the  individual  under  its  watch 
and  training,  and  was  also  an  outward  sign  and  seal  of  the 
inward  grace  of  faith  and  union  with  Christ,  which  might  be 
possessed  by  the  individual  at  the  time,  or  which  he  might 
subsequently  come  into  possession  of.  The  promise  of  God  to 
be  a  God  to  him,  might  be  made  sure  afterwards.  Although 
unregenerated,  and  not  a  member  of  His  invisible  Church,  he 
would  be  in  covenant  with  God,  and  a  member  of  His  visible 
Church.  While  in  this  state,  free  from  gross  and  scandalous 
vices,  believing  intelligently  in  the  covenant,  and  desirous 
that  his  children  should  be  recognized  and  brought  under  its 
blessings,  could  they  not  receive  the  initiatory  rite,  and  be 
throuffh  Him  members  of  the  visible  Church  also  ?  Such  was 
the_practice  of  old,  and  it  becomes  our  guide,  since  no  case 
like  the  present  is  found  on  tlie  pages  of  the  N'ew  Testament. 
No  door  will  be  opened  to  formality  and  superstition  ;  for  such 
instaf¥bes  in  engaged  churches  under  the  covenant  are  exceed- 
ingly rare,  and  are  prevented  by  the  faithfulness  of  God  in 
effectually  calling  either  one  or  both  the  parents — themselves 
the  seed  of  believing  parents — into  saving  union  with  Him  pelf 
and  His  invisible  Church. 

Fourth  :  objections  have  been  urged  against  this  original 
and  only  constitution  of  God's  visible  Church  in  respect  to  its 
members  ;  and  by  some  the  membership  of  the  seed  of  believers 
has  been  set  aside.  It  should  be  remembered  that  every 
doctrine  of  Holy  Scripture,  through  human  ignorance  and 
infirmity,  may  be  encumbered  with  difficulties,  and  have  what 
are  termed  "  objections  "  urged  against  it.  But  there  is  a  wide 
difference  between  an  objection  and  a  difficulty.  An  objec- 
tion, to  be  real  and  valid,  must  be  directed  against  and  over- 
throw the  evidence  upon  which  a  doctrine  rests  ;  a  difficulty 
respects  our  comprehension  of  the  doctrine  in  the  mode  of  its 
existence,  either  in  whole,  or  in  part,  or  in  some  of  its  relations 


OBJECTIONS   AGAINST   INFANT   MEMBEKSHIP.  235 

to  other  doctrines.  A  doctrine  consequently  may  be  true, 
and  yet  not  free  from  difficulties  ;  in  such  a  case,  we  receive 
the  doctrine  and  wait  for  light  to  remove  the  difficulties. 

The  objections  advanced  against  the  evidence  of  the  church 
membership  of  the  infant  seed  of  believers,  are  : 

First :  the  Church  under  the  Old  and  Kew  Dispensations 
is  not  one  and  the  same.  If  this  objection  were  true,  it  would 
not  overthrow  infiint  membership,  but  only  remove  the  consti- 
tution of  the  Church  before  the  coming  of  Christ,  in  respect 
to  its  membership,  out  of  that  period,  and  confine  the  contro- 
versy to  the  constitution  of  the  Church  after  the  coming  of 
Christ.  But  we  have  already  shown  that  the  Kew  Testament 
sustains  the  membership  of  the  seed  of  believers.  The  denial 
of  the  unity  of  the  Church  is  the  fundamental  error  of  the 
objectors.  But  the  unity  has  been  demonstrated,  as  well  as 
the  fact  that  no  alteration  has  been  made  in  the  original  con- 
stitution of  members  ;  and  it  necessarily  continues  in  force. 

Second  :  the  covenant  made  with  Abraham  is  not  spiritual 
and  everlasting,  but  national  and  temporal,  and  expired  with 
the  Jewish  state.  This  objection  is  based  on  a  denial  of  the 
unity  of  the  Clmrch,  and,  involved  with  the  first,  falls  with  it. 
The  contrary  has  been  proved,  and  nothing  in  this  place  need 
be  added  further  than  to  affirm  that  the  Church  existed  before 
the  state,  or  nation,  and  became  that  state  for  specific  purposes 
and  for  a  definite  time.  The  state  form,  and  all  the  promises 
and  threatenings  of  the  covenant  relating  thereto,  being  tem- 
porary, passed  away,  but  left  the  Church  and  all  the  spiritual 
part  of  the  covenant  unchanged  and  established  forever.  The. 
covenant  and  the  Church  go  together. 

Third  :  circumcision  is  neither  a  spiritual  ordinance,  nor  the 
rite  of  admission  to  the  Clmrch,  but  is  a  mere  national  sign  to 
distinguish  the  Jews  from  other  nations.  It  is  in  nature 
neither  identical  with  baptism,  nor  does  it  come  in  the  place 
of  it.  This  objection  also  rests  upon  the  denial  of  the  unity 
of  the  Church.     The  direct  contrary  has  been  established. 

Fourth  :  there  is  no  positive  command  in  the  ISTew  Testa- 
ment to  baptize  children,  and  all  positive  ordinances  require 
positive  commands.     This  also  is  based  on   the  same  error. 


236  THE   HI8T0EY   OF  THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

Both  the  assumption,  and  the  principle  involved  in  the  objec- 
tion are  incorrect.  1st.  The  assumption,  that  the  New  Testa- 
ment, independent  of  the  Old,  is  the  only  rule  of  faith  and 
practice  to  the  people  of  God.  But  the  New  Testament  is 
built  out  of  and  upon  the  Old,  and  cannot  be  fully  explained 
and  comprehended  without  it.  It  is  impossible  to  separate 
the  two.  Both  together  form  the  whole  Word  of  God  ;  and, 
in  determining  either  faith  or  practice,  we  take  the  whole 
Word,  and  not  a  part  only.  2d.  The  principle,  that  positive 
ordinances  of  the  Church  require  positive  commands  in  tbe 
New  Testament.  What  then  becomes  of  the  Sabbath,  or  of 
female  communion  ?  There  is  no  positive  command  in  so 
many  words  for  either  in  the  New  Testament.  If  recourse  be 
had  to  previous  institution,  or  to  implication,  or  inference, 
then  the  principle  is  abandoned. 

We  go  beyond  and  back  of  the  initiatory  rite  to  the 
original  constitution,  which  ordained  that  believers,  together 
with  their  infant  seed,  should  be  members  of  the  visible 
Church,  and  therefore  the  infant  seed  are  entitled  to  receive 
the  initiatory  rite.  This  is  the  fundamental  law,  always  acted 
upon  and  never  repealed.  Nothing  more  was  necessary  than 
that  this  law  should  be  recognized  in  the  New  Testament,  if 
indeed  so  much  was  necessary.  It  was  so  recognized  both  by 
our  Lord  and  His  Apostles,  and  the  matter  is  settled.  The 
positive  command  given  at  the  establishment  of  the  visible 
Church  needed  no  repetition. 

The  objections  arising  from  a  misapprehension  of  the 
doctrine  of  infant  membership,  are  : 

First :  repentance  and  faith  are  necessary  conditions  of 
baptism.  Infants  are  incapable  of  both,  and  therefore  ought 
not  to  be  baptized.  The  major  proposition  is  true  in  respect  to 
adults,  who  have  not  been  previously  baptized,  and  to  them 
are  the  commands  "  repent  "  and  "  believe  "  addressed.  But 
the  proposition  is  erroneous  in  respect  to  infants,  whose  only 
qualification  for  receiving  the  initiatory  rite  is,  that  they  be 
born  of  believing  parents  in  regular  connection  with  the 
Church  of  God.  They  come  in  through  the  door  of  their 
faith.      So    has    God   ordained.      The  minor  proposition   is 


OBJECTIONS   AGAINST  INFANT  MEMBEKSHIP.  237 

nnsound,  since  it  implies  that  we  are  entitled  to  only  such 
privileges  and  mercies  as  we  can  appreciate  and  enjoy.  To 
iiow  many  privileges  and  mercies,  through  God's  goodness, 
are  we  born  in  social  and  civil  life,  the  benefits  of  which  we 
do  actually  receive  and  enjoy  for  years,  ere  we  are  capable  of 
understanding  and  appreciating  them  ?  Such  is  the  fact  with 
infants  in  their  Church  relations.  The  objection  however  lies 
directly  against  the  ordination  of  God  Himself,  and  proves  too 
much — even  the  damnation  of  infants.  In  His  wisdom,  good- 
ness, and  power,  the  Lord  ordained  that  infants  should  be 
circumcised;  of  which  rite  repentance  and  faith  were  as  neces- 
sary conditions  as  they  are  of  baptism  :  "  Who  hath  directed 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  or  being  His  counsellor  hath  taught 
Him  ?  "  Isa.  xl.  13-lJ:.  The  objection  proves  infant  damna- 
tion :  "  Except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise  perish,"  "  He 
that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned."  Eepentance  and  faith 
are  conditions  of  life.  Infants  are  incapable  of  both ;  there- 
fore, infants  shall  not  see  life. 

Second:  the  consequences  of  infant  membership  are  absurd. 
If  infants  are  admitted  to  baptism,  they  must  also  be  admitted 
to  communion.  The  contrary  has  been  shown,  in  that  the  two 
ordinances  require  distinct  qualifications  in  the  infant ;  he 
may  be  admitted  to  one  and  not  to  the  other. 

Third  :  infant  membership  is  of  no  benefit,  for  children  of 
Christian  parents  who  are  not  admitted  members  under  the 
covenant  with  Abraham,  are  as  much  blessed  and  prospered 
of  God  as  those  that  are.  If  the  objection  were  true,  it  would 
not  disprove  the  fact  that  God  has  ordained  the  infant  seed 
of  believers  members  of  His  visible  Church  ;  nor  would  it 
relieve  parents  of  the  duty  of  having  the  sign  and  seal  of  the 
covenant  put  upon  their  children.  But  as  the  objection  is  of 
the  nature  of  an  assertion,  it  may  be  met  by  a  contrary  asser- 
tion, and  for  the  best  of  reasons,  since  it  is  impossible  to 
conceive  that  God  will  not  specially  fulfil  His  promises  made 
in  covenant  to  His  people  and  to  their  seed  after  them,  when 
they  through  grace  faithfully  discharge  their  duty. 

So  much  has  it  been  necessary  to  say  on  the  constitution 
of  the  visible  Church  in  the  family  and  household  of  Abraham, 


238  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

on  liis  call,  the  covenant  whicli  God  made  with  him,  the 
perpetuity  of  its  sign  and  seal,  the  identity  of  the  Church 
under  both  Dispensations,  and  the  continuance  of  its  member- 
ship as  originally  ordained. 


ISAAC   AND  JACOB  SUCCEED  ABRAHAM.  239 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

ISAAC  AND  JACOB  SUCCEED  ABRAHAM. — JACOB'S  EVENTFUL  LIFE  AND  MATTY 
TRIALS. — HE  REMOVES  INTO  EGYPT  AND  DIES. — JOSEPH  THE  HEAD  OF 
THE  PEOPLE  TILL  HIS  DEATH. — THE  CHOICE  OF  JACOB  OVER  ESAU,  A 
STRIKING  EXAMPLE  OP  ELECTION. — THE  DOCTRINE  CONSIDERED  NECES- 
SARY TO  THE  HISTORY. — JACOB'S  PROPHECY  OP  SHILOH. 

The  promise  of  God  to  Abraham  was,  "  In  Isaac  sliall  tliy 
seed  be  called."  He  was  the  next  after  the  setting  up  of  the 
visible  Chm'ch,  in  the  line  of  spiritual  succession  and  inherit- 
ance :  "  And  it  came  to  pass,  after  the  death  of  Abraham, 
that  God  blessed  his  son  Isaac,"  and  having  renewed  with 
him  the  covenant  of  his  father,  he  became  in  his  stead  the 
head  of  the  Church,  Gen.  xviii.  1-15  ;  xxi.  1-12 ;  Heb.  xi. 
11-19  ;  Gen.  xxv.  1-12  ;  xxvi.  1-6,  24.  Of  his  twin  sons, 
Jacob,  the  younger,  was  preferred  before  Esau,  the  elder,  to 
succeed  him,  Gen.  xxv.  19-34 ;  upon  whom  he  bestowed  the 
superior  blessing,  Gen.  xxvii.  1-40.  "When  Jacob  shortly 
after  took  his  journey  to  Padan-aram,  to  tarry  there  until  his 
brother's  wrath  should  be  turned  away  from  him,  the  Lord 
appeared  to  him  in  a  dream,  and  standing  above  the  ladder 
that  reached  to  heaven  from  earth,  renewed  the  covenant  witli 
him. 

This  heir  of  the  promises  and  head  of  the  household  of 
faith  was  absent  from  Canaan  twenty  years,  fourteen  of  which 
lie  served  for  his  two  wives,  Leah  and  Rachel,  and  six  for  his 
wages.  Unable  longer  to  endure  the  injustice  and  oppression 
of  his  father-in-law,  Laban,  by  divine  command  and  under 
divine  protection,  he  effected  his  escape,  and  safely  returned, 


240  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF  GOD. 

witli  a  large  family  and  household  and  great  possessions.  On 
the  way,  through  fervent  prayer  to  God,  with  whom  he 
wrestled  and  prevailed,  and  by  the  wise  use  of  means,  and 
the  exhibition  of  a  generous  and  peaceful  spirit,  he  disarmed 
the  wrath  of  his  brother :  "  Esau  ran  to  meet  him,  and 
embraced  him,  and  fell  on  his  neck,  and  kissed  him :  and 
they  wept,"  Gen.  xxvii.  41-45  ;  xxviii.,  xxix.-xxxiii.  Soon 
after  entering  Canaan  he  came  to  Shalem,  a  city  called 
Shechem,  "  and  bought  a  parcel  of  a  field,  where  he  had 
spread  his  tent,  at  the  hajid  of  the  children  of  Hamor, 
Shechem's  father,  for  an  hundred  pieces  of  money  ;  and  he 
erected  there  an  altar,  and  called  it  El-elohe-Israel,"  Gen. 
xxxiii.  17-20  ;  John  iv.  1-6.  Here,  for  the  dishonor  done 
his  daughter  Dinah  by  Shechem,  the  son  of  Hamor,  the 
Hivite,  her  two  own  brothers,  Simeon  and  Levi,  taking 
advantage  of  a  feigned  alliance,  without  consulting  their 
father,  boldly  slew  Hamor,  Shechem,  and  all  the  males  of 
the  city,  rescuing  their  sister,  and  carrying  away  the  spoil 
of-  the  city  and  the  fields,  and  all  the  women  and  children 
captives,  who  were  incorporated  into  the  household  of  Jacob 
and  contributed  to  swell  its  numbers.  The  Lord  directed  him 
to  remove  to  Bethel,  build  an  altar  and  dwell  there,  that  He 
might  again  meet  with  and  bless  him..  As  a  preparation.  He 
required  Jacob's  household,  and  all  that  were  with  him,  to 
put  away  the  strange  gods  among  them,  to  be  clean,  and 
change  their  garments,  and  then  arise  and  go  up  to  Bethel. 
Rachel  had  stolen  and  brought  away  the  strange  gods  of  her 
father  Laban  ;  and  there  were,  in  all  likelihood,  strange  gods 
among  his  numerous  servants  and  the  Hivites.  The  strange 
gods  and  tlie  ear-rings  he  hid  under  an  oak  in  Shechem,  and 
came  to  Bethel,  where  the  Lord  appeared  to  him  a  second 
time,  renewing  with  him  the  covenant  of  Abraham  and  his 
father  Isaac,  and  changing  his  name  from  Jacob  to  Israel,  a 
prince  of  God,  in  token  of  the  greatness  of  his  faith  and  the 
prevalency  of  his  prayers  :  "  Thy  name  shall  not  be  called 
any  more  Jacob,  but  Israel  shall  be  thy  name ;  for  as  a 
prince  hast  thou  power  with  God  and  with  men,  and  hast 
prevailed,"  Gen.  xxxii.  24-28  ;  xxxv.  1-16  ;  xxxiv.     To  this 


Jacob's  eventful  life.  2-il 

Patriarch  belongs  the  honor  of  giving-  his  name  to  the  people 
of  God  :  "  the  Israelites,"  "  the  children  of  Israel,"  "  the  sons 
of  Jacob,"  "  Jacob." 

This  Patriarch  had  an  eventful  life  and  one  full  of  trials. 
There  was  the  painful  controversy  with  Esau  his  brother ; 
his  flight  and  long  exile  from  his  father's  house ;  his  severe 
disaj^pointments  and  unkind  and  oppressive  treatment  in  the 
family  of  Laban,  his  father-in-law  ;  the  jealousy  and  conten- 
tions of  his  wives ;  the  barrenness  for  a  long  season  of  his 
beloved  Kachel ;  his  flight  and  danger  from  Laban ;  his 
terror  at  the  wrath  of  Esau ;  the  afflicting  humiliation  of  his 
daughter ;  the  bloody  vengeance  of  his  sons  upon  the  She- 
chemites ;  his  fear  of  assaults  from  the  inhabitants  of  the 
land  ;  the  distress  of  the  practice  of  idolatry  in  his  household  ; 
the  death  of  valued  members  of  his  family  ;  the  affecting  and 
sudden  death  of  his  wife  Rachel,  soon  followed  by  the  incest 
of  his  firstborn  son  Penben  ;  and  this  again  by  the  death  of 
his  honored  and  venerable  father,  Gen.  xxxv.  His  trials  went 
on  increasing.  His  sons  were  generally  reprobate  in  character. 
A  deadly  hatred  sprang  up  in  the  breasts  of  all  against  the 
pious  and  dutiful  Joseph,  with  whom  God  communicated  by 
dreams,  and  announced  his  future  elevation  to  supremacy 
over  the  whole  family.  In  process  of  time,  this  beloved 
Joseph  was  seized  by  his  brethren,  cast  into  a  pit  to  die, 
finally  sold  to  a  company  of  merchant  Midianites,  and  his 
coat  dipped  in  blood  and  returned  to  his  father  as  evidence 
of  his  destruction.  Jacob's  grief  was  overwhelming  :  "  Ho 
refused  to  be  comforted !  "  Gen.  xxxvii.  New  afflictions 
arose  in  the  sudden  death,  by  direct  visitation  of  God,  of  his 
wicked  grandsons,  Er  and  Onan,  and  in  the  shameful  conduct 
of  his  son  Judah,  Gen.  xxxviii.  Next  followed  the  grievous 
famine,  his  distress  and  perplexity  at  the  detention  of  Simeon 
in  Egypt,  and  the  harsh  treatment  v/hich  his  sons  received 
when  they  went  into  that  country  to  buy  corn.  Then  came 
his  painful  parting  with  Benjamin,  which  led  him  to  cry  out 
"  all  these  things  are  against  me,"  Gen.  xlii.  Meanwhile, 
the  wonderful  providences  of  God  were  unfolding.  The 
beloved  and  lost  Joseph,  enduring  sad  changes  and  tempta- 
16 


242  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

tions,  yet  true  to  his  high  profession  in  all,  was  governor 
over  the  land  of  Egypt,  Gen.  xxxix-xl. ;  "  sent  "  by  the  Lord 
"  before  his  father  and  brethren,  to  preserve  them  a  posterity 
in  the  earth,  and  to  save  their  lives  by  a  great  deliverance," 
xlv.   1-8.      On   the  return  of  his  brethren  with  Benjamin, 
Joseph  made  himself  known  to  them.     His  design  to  remove 
liis  father  and  all  his  family  and  household  into  Egypt  is 
cordially  seconded   by  Pharaoh,  and  Jacob  came  down  by 
God's  command  into  Egypt,  and  settled  in  the  land  of  Goshen. 
"  And  Joseph  made  ready  his  chariot,  and  went  up  to  meet 
Israel,  his  father,  to  Goshen,  and  presented  himself  unto  him  ; 
and  he  fell  on  his  neck,  and  wept  on  his  neck  a  good  while. 
And  Israel  said  unto  Joseph,  ]^ow  let  me  die,  since  I  have 
seen  thy  face,  because   thou   art  yet  alive."      "And  Israel 
dwelt  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  in  the  country  of  Goshen,  and 
they  had  possessions  therein,  and  grew  and  multiplied  exceed- 
ingly," Gen.  xxxix-xlvii.     He  survived  his  removal  seventeen 
years,  and  shortly  before  his  death  exacted  an  oath  of  Joseph 
to  bury  him  in  the  promised  land,  in  the  burying-place  of  his 
fathers.  Gen.  xlvii.  28,  31.     Joseph  brought  his  sous  Ephraim 
and   Manasseh   to   receive   his   blessing.      By  inspiration   he 
blessed  them,  preferring  Ephraim,  the  younger,  to  Manasseh 
the  firstborn ;  assuring  Joseph  that  God  would  be  with  him 
and  his  posterity,  and  bring  them  again  to  the  land  of  their 
fathers.     The  closing  scene  of  the  life  of  this  Patriarch  is 
morally  sublime.      Under  divine  inspiration,  his  heart  over- 
flowing with  affection  for  the  children  of  his  loins,  his  faith 
triumphing  over  the  decay  of  age,   and  the  fear  of  death, 
beholding  afar  off  the  progress  of  the  Church,  the  fulfilment 
of  the  promises,  and  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  he  called  the 
twelve  patriarchs  around   his  bed,  "  and  said.  Gather  your- 
selves together,  that  I  may  tell  you  that  which  shall  befall 
you  in  the  last  days,"  Gen.  xllx.,  and  addressed  them  succes- 
sively, in  words   descriptive  of  their  respective   tribes,  and 
prophetic  of  their  future  character  and  life.     "  All  these  are 
the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel :    and  this  is  it  that  their  father 
spake  unto  them  and  blessed  them  ;  every  one  according  to 
his  blessing  he  blessed  them,"  xlix.  28.     Reuben,  the  first- 


Jacob's  removal  into  egypt  and  death.  243 

born,  was  deposed  from  his  dignity,  and  Judali  put  in  his 
room  and  made  the  royal  tribe  and  the  tribe  from  which 
Christ  should  descend.  "  And  when  he  had  made  an  end  of 
commanding  his  sons,  he  gathered  up  his  feet  into  the  bed, 
and  yielded  the  ghost,  and  was  gathered  unto  his  people, 
being  one  hundred  and  forty-seven  years  old."  His  body 
being  embalmed,  and  the  days  of  mourning  ended,  Joseph, 
accompanied  by  distinguished  Egyptians,  the  elders  of  his 
house,  the  elders  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  the  house  of  Joseph, 
his  brethren  and  his  father's  house,  bore  out  of  Egypt  the 
remains  of  Jacob,  buried  them  in  the  cave  of  Machpelah  and 
returned  to  Egypt.  Few  of  the  people  of  God  have  ever 
been  so  greatly  honored  in  death.  Gen.  1.  Y-13.  Joseph,  now 
becoming  the  head  of  Israel,  loved,  carefully  nourished,  and 
protected  them.  Upon  his  death-bed,  "  He  said  unto  his 
brethren,  I  die :  and  God  will  surely  visit  you,  and  bring 
you  out  of  this  land  unto  the  land  which  He  sware  to 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob.  And  Joseph  took  an  oath  of 
the  children  of  Israel,  saying,  God  will  surely  visit  you,  and 
ye  shall  carry  up  my  bones  from  hence.  So  Joseph  died, 
being  one  hmidred  and  ten  years  old :  and  they  embahned 
him,  and  he  was  put  in  a  coffin  in  Egypt." 

The  choice  of  Jacob  in  preference  to  Esau  was  of  the 
election  of  God,  and  the  sacred  M-riters  refer  to  it  as  a  striking 
illustration  of  that  great  doctrine.  As  it  is  the  foundation 
and  upbuilding — the  stability  and  safety  of  the  Church,  and 
the  working  out  of  the  riches  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  it 
cannot  be  omitted  in  the  history. 

The  doctrine  is  based  on  the  sovereignty  and  independence 
of  God — attributes  which  are  essential  to  the  very  being  of 
God,  and  which  He  always  claims  to  Himself.  He  is  the 
First  Cause,  and  Creator  of  the  universe  of  matter  and  mind. 
The  purpose,  the  plan,  the  design,  the  execution  of  the  whole 
work,  came  out  of  His  own  infinite  mind  from  eternity. 
Nothing  existed  without  Himself  to  influence  Him  in  any 
way ;  He  was  self-moved.  ^Necessarily,  the  universe  as  a 
creation  is  dependent  upon  and  subject  to  God  ;  it  is  inca- 
pable of  self-preservation,  self-control,  or  self-direction.     As 


244  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE    CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

the  great  Arcliitect,  God  is  also  the  great  Lawgiver  and 
Governor,  ordering  all  tilings  according  to  the  counsel  of  His 
own  will.  As  the  Supreme  and  Infinite  Good,  God  can  have 
no  final  object  in  creation  but  His  own  glorj.  None  can 
know  what  that  glory  is — none  can  order  and  direct  the 
universe  so  as  to  secure  that  glory,  save  Himself. 

From  these  indisputable  truths  respecting  God,  it  is  evident, 
that  He  works  out  of  Himself,  and  by  Himself,  and  for 
Himself.  "  For  of  Him,  and  through  Him,  and  to  Him,  are 
all  things  :  to  whom  be  glory  forever.  Amen,"  Rom.  xi.  36. 
He  hath  from  eternity  decreed  or  purposed  according  to  His 
own  counsels  (conceived  in  infinite  wisdom  and  goodness) 
whatsoever  comes  to  pass  ;  and  His  infinite  power  executes 
all.  Therefore,  saitli  Isaiah,  xlvi.  9-10,  "  For  I  am  God,  and 
there  is  none  else ;  I  am  God,  and  there  is  none  like  me. 
Declaring  the  end  from  the  beginning,  and  from  ancient 
times,  the  things  that  are  not  yet  done,  saying,  My  counsel 
shall  stand,  and  I  will  do  my  j^leasure."  James  i.  18  ;  Acts 
XV.  18,  "  Known  unto  God  are  all  His  works  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  world."  All  things  come  to  pass  "  by  the  deter- 
minate counsel  and  foreknowledge  of  God  ;"  and  when  angels, 
men,  or  devils,  gather  together  and  execute  their  own  will, 
they  only  "  do  whatsoever  God's  hand  and  God's  counsel 
determined  before  to  be  done,"  Acts  ii.  23  ;  iv,  27-28.  "  He 
doeth  according  to  His  own  Avill  in  the  army  of  heaven,  and 
among  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth :  and  none  can  stay  His 
hand,  or  say  unto  Him,  what  doest  thou  ? "  Dan.  iv.  35. 
With  the  infinite  and  omniscient  God  there  is  neither  past, 
present,  nor  future  ;  and  the  terms  "  foreordination,"  "  pre- 
destination," and  "  foreknowledge,"  are  used  in  accommoda- 
tion to  our  finite  conceptions  of  the  decrees  of  God  in  respect 
to  events  future  to  us,  and  the  difi:erent  connections  in  which 
we  view  them.  When  God's  foreknowledge  is  spoken  of,  it  is 
equivalent  to  His  foreordination  ;  for  He  does  not  foreordain 
because  He  foreknows,  but  He  foreknows  because  He  fore- 
ordains. 

Election  is  but  a  part  of  the  eternal  foreordination  of  God 
of  whatsoever  comes  to  pass  in  time,  with  reference  to  angels 


THE   DOCTRINE   OF    ELECTION.  245 

and  men.  The  complement  of  the  decree  of  election  is  the 
decree  of  reprobation.  Some  angels  He  foreordained  to  glory, 
and  Bome  men  to  eternal  life — these  are  elected  ;  other  angels 
and  men  He  foreordained  to  dishonor  and  eternal  death — 
these  are  reprobated. 

The  existence,  progress,  and  end  of  the  human  race  were 
foreordained ;  and  God  determined  to  show  His  love  to  His 
creatures  in  a  way  of  mercy  through  the  fall  and  the  salvation 
of  a  part  of  mankind,  by  a  Redeemer,  with  whom  He  entered 
into  a  covenant  for  that  purpose,  electing  from  the  mass  of 
mankind  every  individual  of  the  part  He  designed  to  save  to 
the  glory  of  His  grace.  These  elect,  given  to  Christ, — the 
reward  of  the  travail  of  His  soul — constitute  the  true  Church, 
and  they  are  gathered  in  Him,  as  the  generations  of  men 
succeed  each  other.  Thus  the  decree  of  election  is  but  the 
working  out  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  is  the  foundation, 
upbuilding,  stability,  and  safety  of  the  Church.  Without 
election,  there  can  be  neither  Church  nor  salvation,  John  x. 
14,  26-30  ;  xvii.  1-26  ;  Acts  ii.  47 ;  Rom.  viii.  28-39  ;  Eph. 
i.  1-14 ;  ii.  1-22  ;  v.  23-27 ;  1  Thess.  v.  9-10  ;  2  Tim.  ii.  19. 

The  reason  why  it  pleases  God  to  save  a  part,  and  not  the 
whole  of  mankind,  and  to  elect  certain  individuals  in  pre- 
ference to  others,  is  kno^\^l  only  to  Himself.  He  acts  as  He 
pleases,  according  to  His  own  will;  and  this  is  the  extent  of 
our  knowledge.  This  is  all  the  reason  He  gave  to  Moses, 
Exod.  xxxiii.  19,  "  I  Avill  be  gracious  to  whom  I  will  be 
gracious,  and  I  will  show  mercy  on  whom  I  will  show 
mercy."  It  is  all  that  Paul  had,  "  Therefore  hath  He  mercy 
on  whom  He  will  have  mercy,  and  whom  He  will  He  harden- 
eth,"  Rom.  ix.  18.  It  is  all  our  Saviour  gave,  and  it  satisfied 
Him,  because  it  was  the  will  of  His  Heavenly  Father,  which 
can  never  be  wrong ;  and  in  it  he  acquiesced,  saying,  "  Even 
so  Father,  for  so  it  seemed  good  in  thy  sight,"  Matt.  xi. 
25-26.  It  is  agreeable  to  all  Scripture  to  say  that  He  hath 
elected  men  in  Christ  unto  everlasting  glory,  and  out  of  His 
mere  free  grace  and  love,  without  any  foresight  of  faith,  or 
good  w^orks,  or  perseverance,  or  any  other  thing  in  the 
creature,  as   conditions,  or  causes,   moving  Him  thereunto, 


246  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

and  all  "  to  the  praise  of  His  glorious  grace,"  Rom.  ix.  1-29  ; 
Epli.  i.  1-14  ;  ii.  1-10  ;  Col.  i.  12-14 ;  2  Thess.  ii.  13  ;  2  Tim. 
i.  9  ;  Jer.  i.  5  ;  Luke  x.  20  ;  1  Tim.  i.  12-14 ;  1  Cor.  xv. 
8-10  ;  vi.  9-11  ;  Titus  iii.  3-7. 

If  God  has  decreed  the  salvation  of  men,  He  has  decreed 
all  the  means  essential  thereto.  The  decree  of  election  includes 
the  means  as  well  as  the  end.  It  so  lies  in  the  covenant  of 
grace.  Did  He  elect  men  to  eternal  life  ?  Then  did  He  elect 
His  Son  to  obtain  eternal  life  for  them.  Did  He  elect  them 
to  eternal  life  through  sanctilication  of  the  spirit  and  belief  of 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  ?  Tlien  did  He  elect  the  Holj  Spirit 
to  indite  His  Holy  "Word,  and  to  testify  of  Christ  unto  men  ; 
then  did  He  elect  preachers  and  send  them,  that  men  might 
hear  and  learn  of  Christ  through  the  word  ;  then  did  He  apply 
Christ  to  them  by  His  Spirit,  that  His  elect  might  repent,  be- 
lieve, and  obey  ;  then  did  He  ordain  the  Church  for  their 
ingathering,  and  all  her  sabbaths  and  ordinances  for  their 
comfort  and  growth  in  grace  ;  then  did  He  cause  all  things 
respecting  them  to  work  for  their  good  unto  salvation,  and  to 
work  also  in  them  of  His  own  good  pleasure,  so  that  they 
would  "  work  out  their  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling." 
Men  are  not  stocks  and  stones,  but  intelligent  and  accountable 
creatures.  Means  are  provided  for  salvation,  and  they  are  to 
use  them.  The  Lord  assured  Paul  that  He  had  elected  all  on 
the  ship  with  Iiim  to  be  saved  alive  out  of  the  dreadful  storm, 
after  all  hope  that  they  should  be  saved  had  been  taken  away. 
Some  days  after,  when  the  shipmen  were  about  to  flee  out  of 
the  ship,  "  Paul  said  to  the  centurion  and  to  the  soldiers,  Ex- 
cept these  abide  in  the  ship,  ye  cannot  be  saved,"  -Acts  xxvii. 
The  end  was  ordained,  but  the  means  to  that  end  were  or- 
dained also;  and  the  law  is  universal  throughout  all  God's 
works  of  creation,  providence,  and  grace.  The  golden  chain 
connecting  means  and  end  in  salvation,  is  linked  together  for 
us  by  the  Apostle  in  the  sublime  close  of  the  eightli  chapter 
of  Romans.  "  And  we  know  that  all  things  work  together 
for  good  to  them  that  love  God,  to  them  that  are  the  called 
according  to  His  purpose.  For  whom  He  did  foreknow.  He 
also  did  predestinate  to  be  conformed  to  the  image  of  His  Son, 


CHOICE   OF   JACOB   OVER   ESAU.  247 

that  He  might  be  the  first-born  among  many  brethren.  More- 
over, whom  He  did  predestinate,  them  He  also  called  :  and 
whom  He  called,  them  He  also  justified  :  and  whom  He  jus- 
tified, them  He  also  glorified,  etc.,"  Isa.  xlii.  1-16  ;  Eph.  i.  1-14 ; 
Gen.  vi.  3  ;  John  iii.  1-6  ;  xiv.  26  ;  xv.  26-27  ;  xvi.  7-11 ; 
Matt,  xxviii.  18-20 ;  Acts  xxvi.  12-18  ;  Eom.  x.  11-15  ;  Acts 
ii.  38  ;  xvi.  14-15  ;  27-34  ;  1  Cor.  xi.  23-34  ;  1  Pet.  i.  1-23, 
etc. ;  1  Thess.  v.  1-28  ;  2  Thess.  ii.  13-17  ;  Titus  ii.  11-14,  etc. 

As  all  the  means  are  ordained  unto  the  end,  and  are  in- 
cluded in  the  decree  of  election,  and  God  Himself  worketh  all 
and  in  all,  the  salvation  of  the  elect  is  certain.  The  Lord 
Jesus  will  give  eternal  life  to  as  many  as  the  Father  hath 
given  Him  :  nor  can  any  pluck  them  out  of  His  hands,  or  out 
of  His  Father's  hands,  for  they  are  one,  and  united  in  the 
plenitude  of  the  Godhead  for  their  salvation,  John  x.  27-30  ; 
xvii.  1-3,  12  ;  vi.  39  ;  Eom.  viii.  30-39  ;  1  Pet.  i.  1-5,  etc. 
There  is  no  fall  from  this  state  of  grace  into  whicli  God  brings 
His  elect,  Rom.  v.  1-11.  Apostates  are  from  profession,  not 
from  faith  ;  from  the  professing  Israel,  not  from  the  true  Israel. 
"  They  went  out  from  us,  but  they  were  not  of  us  ;  for  if  they 
had  been  of  us,  they  would  have  continued  with  us  :  but  they 
went  out  that  they  might  be  made  manifest  that  they  were, 
not  all  of  us,"  1  John  ii.  19  ;  2  Pet.  ii.  19-22  ;  John  vi.  66  ; 
Heb.  X.  38-39. 

The  opposite  or  complement  of  the  decree  of  election  is 
that  of  reprobation.  "  Was  not  Esau  Jacob's  brother  ?  saith 
the  Lord ;  yet  I  loved  Jacob,  and  I  hated  Esau,  and  laid  his 
mountains  and  his  heritage  waste  for  the  dragons  of  the  wil- 
derness," Mai.  i.  1-3.  "  For  the  children  being  not  yet  born, 
neither  having  done  any  good  or  evil,  that  the  purpose  of  God 
according  to  election  might  stand,  not  of  works,  but  of  him 
that  calleth."  Saith  the  Lord,  "  The  elder  shall  serve  the 
younger  ;  Jacob  have  I  loved,  and  Esau  have  I  hated,"  Eom. 
ix.  10-13.  As  men  are  elected  unto  eternal  life  to  the  praise 
of  God's  glorious  grace,  so  men  are  ordained  unto  dishonor 
and  wrath  to  the  praise  of  His  glorious  justice  and  power. 
The  end  of  the  decree  on  either  side  is  the  glory  of  God  ;  so 
writes  the  Apostle  Paul :    "  Hath  not  the  potter  power  over 


248  THE   niSTOKY   OF  THE   CHCECH   OF   GOD. 

the  clay,  of  the  same  lump  to  make  one  vessel  unto  honor, 
and  another  unto  dishonor  ?  What  if  God,  willing  to  show 
His  wrath,  and  to  make  His  power  known,  endured  with  much 
long-suffering  the  vessels  of  wrath  fitted  to  destruction :  and 
that  He  might  make  known  the  riches  of  His  glory  on  the 
vessels  of  mercy,  which  He  had  afore  prepared  unto  glory," 
Rom.  ix.  21-23. 

There  are  examples  of  reprobation.  Pharaoh  is  one. 
"  And  thou  slialt  be  cut  off  from  the  earth.  And  in  very 
deed  for  this  cause  have  I  raised  thee  up,  for  to  show  in  thee 
my  power ;  and  that  my  name  may  be  declared  throughout 
all  the  earth,"  Exod.  ix.  15-16  ;  iv.  21 ;  vii.  3-4 ;  xi.  9  ;  viii. 
32  ;  ix.  34-35.  The  sons  of  Eli,  Hophni  and  Phinehas,  were 
reprobated,  1  Sam,  ii.  25  ;  comp.  2  Sam.  vii.  14  ;  Isa.  vi.  9-11 ; 
2  Thess.  ii.  11-12.  Judas,  chosen  to  the  apostleship,  but  not 
to  salvation,  was  a  "  son  of  perdition  ;  "  his  existence,  perfidy, 
and  end,  were  foreordained  from  eternitj-,  John  vi.  70  ;  xvii. 
12  ;  Ps.  cix.  1-20  ;  Acts  i.  20  ;  Matt.  xxvi.  23-25  ;  xxvii.  3-5. 
There  are  declarations  of  the  fact  of  reprobation  :  the  Apostle 
Paul  speaks  of  "  vessels  of  wrath  fitted  to  destruction  ;  "  Jude, 
of  "  certain  men  crept  in  unawares,  who  were  before  of  old 
ordained  to  this  condemnation,  ungodly  men,"  etc.,  Jude  vs.  4. 
Peter  says  that  Christ  is  "  a  stone  of  stumbling,  and  a  rock  of 
offence,  even  to  them  which  stumble  at  the  word,  being  dis- 
obedient ;  wherennto  also  they  were  appointed,"  1  Pet.  ii.  8  ; 
2  Pet.  ii.  3-12  ;  Ptev.  xvii.  8  ;  Pi-ov.  xvi.  4 ;  Eev.  xiii.  8. 
Our  Lord  addresses  the  Jews  :  "  No  man  can  come  unto  me, 
except  it  were  given  unto  him  of  my  Father."  "  Ye  believe 
not,  because  ye  are  not  of  my  sheep,"  John  vi.  65  ;  x.  26. 
Paul  assigns  the  reason  why  only  a  part  of  Israel  had  obtained 
salvation  :  "  the  election  hath  obtained  it,  and  the  rest  were 
blinded,"  Rom.  xi.  7.  We  read  of  the  means  of  grace  being 
powerless,  the  gospel  being  "  hid  to  them  that  are  lost ;  "  of 
men  delivered  to  blindness  of  mind  and  hardness  of  heart,  2 
Cor.  iv.  3  ;  Isa.  vi.  9-10  ;  Ixvi.  4  ;  Ezek.  xx.  24-26  ;  2  Thess.  ii. 
11-12.  "  Tlierefore  hath  He  mercy  on  whom  He  will  have 
mercy,  and  whom  He  will  He  hardenetli,"  Rom.  ix.  17-18. 

Election  runs  through  the  entire  Bible.     All  prophecy  is 


EXAMPLES   OF   ELECTION   AND   EEPKOBATION.  249 

of  God's  foreordination ;  to  reject  foreordination  is  to  reject 
prophecy.  The  thousands  and  millions  of  agents  concerned  in 
bringing  about  predicted  events  were  from  eternity  elected 
to  their  several  and  necessary  parts,  constituting  a  vast  and 
infinitely  minute  network  of  causes  and  effects  in  the  world 
of  matter  and  of  mind,  each  individual  agent  acting  and  being 
acted  upon  by  others, "and  contributing  an  appointed  portion, 
till  in  the  lapse  of  ages  the  counsel  of  God  is  perfected. 

Take,  for  example,  the  prediction  of  "  the  seed  of  the 
woman  "  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  Of  the  seventy-five 
progenitors  recorded  in  Luke's  genealogy  of  Him,  a  line  of 
succession  of  four  thousand  years,  every  one  came  into  that 
line  by  the  election  of  God.  Of  the  forty-one  in  Matthew's 
genealogy,  every  one  came  into  it  by  the  election  of  God,  that 
election  making  two  lines — one  the  natural,  the  other  the  legal. 
The  hand  of  a  Sovereign  God  appears  at  every  step.  Setli  is 
chosen  in  preference  to  all  Adam's  other  sons.  Sliem,  in  pref- 
erence to  Ham  and  eTapheth ;  a  portion  of  Shem's  posterity, 
in  preference  to  all  his  other  posterity,  and  to  the  posterity  of 
Ham  and  Japheth  ;  Abraluam,  in  preference  to  his  brothers 
Kahor  and  Haran  ;  Isaac,  to  Ishmael ;  Jacob,  to  Esau  ;  Ju- 
dah,  to  Simeon  ;  David,  to  his  seven  brothers  ;  Solomon,  to  all 
the  other  sons  of  David,  and  so  on  to  the  end.  Then,  behold 
how  the  choice  runs  on  in  the  maternal  line.  AVliy  should 
Messiah  come  of  Sarah,  when  He  might  have  come  of  another? 
Why  of  Rebecca?  Why  of  Leah?  of  Tamar?  of  Ptuth,  the 
Moabitess  ?  of  Bathsheba  ?  of  Mary  of  Nazareth  ?  And  then 
mark  the  foreordination  and  election  of  God  in  innumerable 
particulars  concerning  Him.  Pie  made  choice  of  the  time 
when,  and  the  town  where  He  should  be  born,  the  city  He 
should  be  brought  up  in,  the  work  He  should  do,  the  treat- 
ment He  should  receive — elected  the  very  man  who  should 
betray  Him,  the  kind  of  death  He  should  die,  and  the  very 
people  who  should  inflict  it  upon  Him — wrote  the  very 
words  they  should  speak  at  His  cross,  described  the  very 
wonnds  given  Him,  (and  none  others,)  the  parting  of  His  gar- 
ments. His  own  bitter  cries,  the  rich  man  who  should  bury 
Him,  and  the  time  He  should  lie  in  the  grave. 


250  THE   HISTOET   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

What  is  true  of  Christ  the  Head,  is  true  of  all  the  members. 
As  He  was  elected,  and  all  things  concerning  Him  were  fore- 
ordained and  came  to  pass,  so  they  are  each  and  every  one 
elected,  and  all  things  concerning  them  are  foreordained,  and 
will  come  to  pass.  They  are  chosen  saints,  "  God's  elect," 
Rom.  i.  6-7  ;  2  Tim.  ii.  10  ;  Titus  i.  1.  Although  their  names, 
with  few  exceptions,  are  not  given  before  their  birth,  or 
their  lives,  unless  in  some  few  instances,  predicted  with  minute- 
ness unto  the  end,  yet  are  their  names  and  their  lives  called  and 
foreordained  from  eternity,  and  are  all  brought  to  pass  in  time, 
as  was  their  Lord's.  It  was  so  with  the  Patriarchs,  with  Abra- 
ham, Isaac,  and  Jacob  ;  with  Moses  and  Aaron,  Joshua  and 
Caleb,  the  Judges  and  Samuel,  and  the  Prophets,  Kings,  and 
Apostles.  Some  were  chosen  and  named  before  they  were 
born,  as  Josiah  and  John  the  Baptist.  Jeremiah  and  Paul 
were  separated  to  their  offices- from  their  birth.  And  what 
is  true  of  distinguished  officers  and  saints  is  true  of  all 
saints. 

-Mark  also  the  predictions  respecting  the  great  body  of  the 
Lord's  people — the  Church — after  its  establishment  in  Abra- 
ham. It  should  be  a  numerous  body  ;  should  go  into  captivity 
in  Egypt ;  be  delivered,  and  settled  in  Canaan  ;  seven  nations 
be  destroyed  before  it ;  the  government  be  changed  into  a 
monarchy  ;  the  state  be  divided  into  two  kingdoms,  each  going 
into  captivity,  from  which  the  people  should  return  and  re- 
possess their  land  kept  open  for  them ;  pass  under  the  power 
of  several  kingdoms  that  were  to  overthrow  and  succeed  each 
other  as  the  governing  powers  of  the  world,  and,  under  the 
fourth  and  last,  the  civil  state  of  the  Church  should  be  entirely 
and  forever  broken  up,  the  great  city  and  temple  destroyed, 
and  the  unbelieving  part  of  the  Church  cut  off  and  dispersed 
over  the  world,  remaining  a  distinct  people;  the  Gentiles 
should  be  called  into  the  Church,  which  should  finally  over- 
spread the  earth,  and  God's  ancient  people  be  brought  in 
again  ;  and  numerous  other  particulars  uttered  by  the  Lord  at 
various  intervals  before  their  accomplishment,  varying  from  a 
few  years  to  over  two  thousand.  Portions  of  them,  over  three 
thousand  years  old,  are  now  being  fulfilled  before  our  eyes ; 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE   DOCTRINE   OF   ELECTION.  251 

and  they  are  to  go  on  fulfilling  to  the  end  of  time — all  con- 
ceived— all  arranged — all  foreordained  of  God  from  all  eternity. 
And  in  all,  as  they  have  moved  under  the  hand  of  God,  M-hat 
elections  of  individual  men,  as  prophets,  deliverers,  kings,  raised 
up  to  act  their  part  both  in  and  out  of  the  Church  !  "What 
lifting  up  of  thrones,  and  what  casting  them  down  again ! 
What  election  of  nations  to  execute  His  purposes  one  upon 
another  !  Cyrus  was  elected  to  overthrow  Babylon  and  permit 
the  captive  Church  to  return  ;  and  Isaiah  called  him  by  name 
at  least  one  hundred  years  before  he  was  born  !  Isa.  xliv.  26-28. 
What  is  true  of  God's  foreordaining  all  things  which  have 
come  to  pass  in  respect  to  His  Church  as  a  collective  body  of 
men,  in  respect  to  the  nation  with  which  the  Church  has  been 
connected,  and  of  His  electing  not  the  great  and  noble,  but 
each  and  every  individual  to  the  part  assigned  him  in  the  exe- 
cution of  His  counsels,  is  true  of  all  nations  that  have  ever 
existed  and  ever  will  exist  on  earth. 

The  doctrine  underlies  and  runs  through  the  whole  Word 
of  God.  The  statements  and  illustrati"ons  of  it  both  in  the 
Old  and  Nev/  Testaments,  by  prophets  speaking  in  God's 
name,  and  by  our  Lord,  who  was  God  manifest  in  the  flesh, 
and  by  the  Apostles  taught  by  Him  and  led  by  His  Spirit,  are 
too  numerous  to  be  all  written  down  in  order. 

The  "  stone  of  stumbling  "  in  the  doctrine  of  election  is 
man's  inability  to  comprehend  its  consistency  with  his  free 
agency  and  accountability.  "  The  rock  of  offence  "  is,  that  he 
will  not  have  a  sovereign  God  to  rule  over  him  and  to  do  with 
him  as  He  pleases.  Therefore  is  it  that  he  objects  against  and 
resists  the  doctrine,  and  will  not  recognize  its  precious  uses  and 
consolations.  Tlie  Holy  Scriptures  have  anticipated  and  pro- 
vided for  all  this. 

The  fundamental  error  in  those  who  reject,  or  endeavor  to 
reject  the  doctrine,  is  the  denial  that  the  free  agency  and  ac- 
countability of  the  creature  are  consistent  with  the  sovereignty 
of  God.  "  How,"  say  they,  "  is  it  possible  for  angels  and  men 
to  be  free  agents,  and  accountable  to  God  for  all  they  think 
and  say  and  do,  while  He  preserves  and  governs  them  and  all 
their  actions,  so  that  they  do  and  can  but  accomplish  His 


262  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHTJECH   OF   GOD. 

will  ?     Or  how  is  it  possible  for  a  sovereign  God  to  have  free 
and  accountable  agents  in  His  universe  ?  " 

So  satisfied  are  men,  from  their  own  consciousness,  and 
their  universal  impression  and  treatment  of  each  other,  and 
from  the  manner  in  which  God  deals  with  them  in  His  provi- 
dence and  in  His  "Word,  that  they  are  free  agents,  that  there 
is  not  one  in  a  million  who  believes  that  he  is  a  mere  piece  of 
machinery,  unaccountable  for  his  motions.  Indeed,  his  belief 
is  a  mere  profession,  for  in  his  consciousness  and  practice  he 
denies  it ;  and  it  is  such  a  faith  as  the  world  will  not  permit  to 
live.  So  far  from  onr  free  agency  being  interfered  with  by 
God's  working  all  and  in  all  according  to  the  good  pleasure  of 
His  will,  we  are  unable  to  determine  from  our  consciousness 
whether  He  does  or  not.  We  can  then  safely  assure  ourselves 
of  two  things :  first,  that  w^e  are  in  nature  and  practice  free 
and  accountable  beings  ;  and,  second,  that  whatever  be  the 
sovereign  control  of  God  over  us  and  all  our  actions,  it  in  no 
way  afiects  our  freedom  and  accountability.  On  the  other 
hand,  men  are  equally  satisfied  that  God  is  a  sovereign  :  that 
He  and  He  only  is  tlie  creator,  governor,  and  disposer  of  all 
things  :  that,  infinitely  intelligent.  He  cannot  act  without  a 
plan  :  infinitely  wise.  His  plan  must  be  the  best :  infinitely 
powerful.  His  plan  must  be  acomplished  ;  and  infinitely  just 
and  holy.  He  can  do  no  creature  wrong.  To  deny  God  this 
sovereignty  is  to  deny  that  there  is  any  God  at  all.  Xot  one 
man  in  a  million  dare  do  it.  We  may  assure  ourselves,  then, 
that  God  is  sovereign  and  is  working  all  and  in  all  according 
to  the  counsel  of  His  own  will. 

Here  then  are  two  facts  :  God  is  a  sovereign,  and  man  is 
free  and  accountable,  eacli  being  substantiat(;d  by  its  own 
independent  evidence.  The  necessary  inference  is,  that  neither 
is  destructive  of  the  other :  that  as  they  coexist,  they  must 
consist.  Such  is  the  ordination  of  God,  and  it  can  never  be 
otherwise.  If  now  it  is  asked.  Can  you  explain  this  ?  the  an- 
swer is  direct.  How  is  it  possible  to  explain  what  is  incom- 
prehensible ?  To  show  where  the  lines  of  Divine  sovereignty 
and  human  accountability  meet,  and  mingle,  and  flow  together 
harmoniously,  exceeds  the  powers  of  mortals — yea,  of  angels. 


OBJECTIONS   TO   THE   DOCTKINE   OF   ELECTION.  253 

That  it  should  be  so  is  nothing  unusual  and  particularly  mar- 
vellous. "We  have  before  us  only  one  of  the  deep  things  of 
God  out  of  an  infinite  number.  "  Who  by  searching  can  find 
out  God  ?  "  The  nature  and  movements  of  things  are  known 
to  God  only.  What  man  comprehends  those  of  his  own  soul  ? 
How  then  can  he  hope  to  comprehend  the  nature  and  actings 
of  the  God  who  made  him  ? 

The  grand  objection,  therefore,  to  the  doctrine  of  God's 
sovereignty  over  men  in  election,  that  it  destroys  accounta- 
bility, (and  which  the  Apostle  Paul  notices  in  his  celebrated 
chapter  on  the  subject,  the  ninth  of  Homans,)  falls  to  the 
ground,  and  upon  that  all  other  objections  fall  with  it.  After 
establishing  the  doctrine  of  particular  election  by  striking 
examples  and  express  declarations,  Paul  draws  the  conclusion, 
"  Therefore  hath  He  mercy  on  whom  He  will  have  mercy,  and 
whom  He  will  He  hardeneth."  Thereupon  appears  the  ob- 
jector :  "  Thou  wilt  say  then  unto  me.  Why  doth  He  yet  find 
fault  ?  For  who  hath  resisted  His  will  ?  "  "  By  your  doc- 
trine you  have  destroyed  the  accountability  of  the  creature, 
and  it  follows  that  you  make  God  the  author  of  sin,  and  de- 
prive Him  of  the  power  of  punishing  it.  Yea,  you  make  Him 
a  respecter  of  persons  in  the  favors  He  bestows — insincere  in 
his  ojffers  of  mercy  to  the  non-elect ;  and  you  take  away  all  mo- 
tive from  men  to  exert  themselves  for  their  salvation  !"  It  hav- 
ing been  proved  that  the  doctrine  does  not  destroy  human  ac- 
countability, the  objections  all  fall  together :  God  is  not  in 
such  a  sense  the  author  of  sin  as  to  deprive  Him  of  the  just 
power  of  punishing  it.  He  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  He  is 
not  insincere  in  His  offers  of  mercy  to  the  non-elect,  nor  are 
motives  taken  aAvay  from  such  as  would  be  saved. 

But  let  the  Apostle  answer,  "  ISTay  but,  O  man !  who  art 
thou  that  repliest  against  God  ?  shall  the  thing  formed  say 
to  Him  that  formed  it,  why  hast  thou  made  me  thus  ?  "  He 
falls  back  upon  tlie  infinite  rectitude  of  God,  and  reproves  the 
presumption  of  the  creature  sitting  in  judgment  upon  the 
works  of  his  Creator  and  convicting  Him  of  sin  !  He  does  not 
attempt  to  explain  the  consistency  of  sovereignty  on  the  part 
of  God,  and  accountability  on  the  part  of  the  creature ;   he 


254  THE   HISTOKT   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

assumes  both  to  be  true.  No  creature  can  prove  their  incon- 
sistency, and  therefore  cannot  impeach  the  character  of  God 
in  His  dealings  with  men.  "  The  Judge  of  all  the  earth  will 
do  right."  Men  being  accountable,  must  be  rewarded  accord- 
ing to  their  deeds. 

jS^ay,  further :  the  infinite  rectitude  of  God  protects  Him 
from  the  imputation  of  the  objector,  that  He  is  the  Author  of 
"fiin  and  cannot  therefore  find  fault.  For  although,  for  infin- 
itely wise  and  holy  ends  which  lie  beyond  our  conception,  it 
has  pleased  the  Great  Creator  and  Sovereign  Disposer  of  all 
things  to  permit  the  introduction  of  sin  into  the  universe,  it 
has  been  in  the  way  of  permission,  so  as  that  the  creature  is 
left  to  himself,  and  God  withholds  effectual  restraints,  which 
justly  He  might  do.  The  creature  freely  sins,  and  does  that 
which  God  in  His  nature  allows,  and  by  His  commands 
forbids,  and  so  the  sinner  destroys  himself.  To  use  the  old 
and  oft-repeated  illustration,  the  falling  of  the  sun  below  the 
horizon  is  followed  by  darkness  and  cold.  'No  one  affirms 
that,  darkness  and  cold  flow  from  the  sun,  as  their  cause. 
They  find  no  lodgment  in  that  bod}^,  which  is  the  cause  of  light 
and  heat,  and  these  only.  So  sin  finds  no  lodgment  in  a 
Holy  God.  He  delights  not  in  it :  He  cannot  be  the  eflicient 
author  of  it  in  His  creatures.  He  withdraws  from  them  and 
they  fall.     Therefore,  may  He  "  find  fault." 

Nor  is  God  a  respecter  of  persons  in  electing  one  while  He 
reprobates  another,  since  all  are  upon  the  same  footing  of  sin- 
fulness and  unworthiness  before  Him.  ''  Hath  not  the  potter 
power  over  the  clay,  of  the  same  lump  to  make  one  vessel 
unto  honor  and  another  unto  dishonor  ?"  Sin  is  the  meritori- 
ous and  immediate  cause  of  the  reprobation  of  men.  '^  What 
if  God,  willing  to  show  His  wrath  and  to  make  His  power 
known,  endured  with  much  longsuffering  the  vessels  of  wrath 
fitted  for  destruction,"  is  God  unjust  in  doing  so  ?  Does  He 
treat  them  worse  than  they  deserve?  The  righteousness  of 
Christ  is  the  meritorious  cause  of  the  salvation  of  the  elect ; 
and  this  God  could  bestow,  being  His  own,  upon  Avhom  Pie 
would.  "What  if  God,  that  He  might  make  known  the 
riches  of  His  glory  on  the  vessels  of  mercy,  whom  He  had 


OBJECTIONS  TO  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  ELECTION.       255 

afore  prepared   unto   glory,"  should   do   so  ?     Could  lie  be 
charged  with  respect  of  persons  ? 

But  again  :  Do  not  those  whom  He  foreknows  will  be,  or 
whom  He  has  foreordained  to  be  destroyed,  fulfil  His  will, 
when  they  do  not  accept  the  offers  of  salvation  ?  Is  He  not 
insincere  in  the  offer  to  such  persons  ?  The  answer  is  in  the 
negative,  and  for  the  following  reasons :  first,  He  has  made 
the  off"er  and  asserts  His  sincerity  in  it.  We  must  believe  in 
the  infinite  rectitude  of  God,  that  He  never  will  deceive,  or 
practice  a  lie  upon  His  creatures.  "  Let  God  be  true  but 
every  man  a  liar."  Whatever  difficulties  therefore  may  exist 
in  the  case,  they  have  their  origin  and  foundation  in  ourselves, 
our  limited  faculties,  and  knowledge,  and  not  at  all  in  God. 
His  revealed  will  is  therefore  to  be  the  rule  of  our  duty. 
Second  :  the  foreordination  of  men  to  destruction  is  for  their 
sin.  Their  sin  is  the  transgression  of  the  law  of  God,  which 
is  addressed  to  them  with  infinite  authority,  accompanied 
with  threatenings  of  fearful  wrath  to  deter  them  from  its  vio- 
lation. In  Gospel  lands  their  sin  is  increased  greatly  by  the  re- 
jection of  Christ,  who  opens  a  way  of  salvation  for  them,  and 
through  Whom  promises  are  made  of  the  greatest  blessings  to 
them.  It  is  not  agreeable  to  God's  holy  nature  that  men 
should  sin.  He  hates  sin  ;  nor  does  He  take  delight  in  tlie 
death  of  the  sinner  in  itself  considered.  He  expresses  these 
things  to  the  sinnei-,  off'ers  His  Son  to  him,  and  is  grieved  at 
his  obduracy  and  mourns  over  his  coming  destruction  :  yet, 
for  infinitely  wise  and  holy  reasons,  as  the  governor  of  the 
universe,  He  may  determine  to  leave  the  sinner  to  himself 
and  let  him  perish.  One  example  out  of  many  shows  the 
fact  to  be  so.  Our  Lord  wept  over  Jerusalem,  after  oft- 
repeated  efforts  to  gather  under  His  wings  the  multitude  of 
its  inhabitants  already  doomed  to  destruction.  Should  it  be 
replied.  If  tlien  sin  is  so  hateful  to  God,  and  the  death  of  the 
sinner  so  much  a  grief  to  Him,  why  did  He  ever  so  dispose 
all  things  as  to  permit  the  coming  of  sin  into  the  world,  with 
all  its  woe  ?  We  answer,  no  created  intelligence  can  assign 
any  other  reason,  than  the  will  of  God  that  it  should  be  so ; 
which  will  is  wisest,  and  best,  and  to  be  humbly  and  reveren- 


25  6  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

tially  acquiesced  in  by  all  His  creatures,  who,  after  their 
highest  efforts,  never  can  comprehend  it.  Another  objection 
connected  with  the  preceding  is,  that  election  takes  away  all 
motive  to  effort  on  the  part  of  impenitent  men  who  would  be 
saved,  and  encoura<>'es  the  elect  to  continue  in  sin.  The 
fallacy  of  this  objection  lies  in  the  assumption  that  the  decree 
of  election  dispenses  with  the  agency  of  man,  and  his  use  of 
means.  But  it  is  not  so.  If  he  is  reprobated,  it  is  because  he 
obstinately  rejects  the  offers  of  life,  refuses  to  use  the  means 
of  grace,  and  neglects  to  take  the  necessary  steps  towards  peace 
with  God.  He  acts  freely  and  accountably,  and  no  decree  of 
reprobation  keeps  him  out  of  heaven.  If  he  is  elected,  God 
works  in  him  "  both  to  will  and  to  do,"  and  so  he  "  works 
out "  his  own  salvation.  He  is  not  elected  to  be  saved  in 
inaction  and  in  sin.  Men  do  exert  themselves  to  the  utmost 
in  their  earthly  callings,  not  knowing  what  the  result  will  be, 
although  God  lias  ordained  that  result  from  eternity.  They 
never  dream  of  obtaining  benefits  without  effort.  Let  them 
be  _ equally  wise  in  spiritual  things.  Tlie  fact  that  God  has 
elected  some,  yea,  many  unto  life  eternal,  should,  on  the 
contrary,  operate  as  an  encouragement  to  all  sinners  to  hear 
and  embrace  the  Gospel  call ;  for  we  c-an  know  our  election 
or  our  reprobation  only  by  the  manner  in  which  we  receive 
that  gracious  call,  even  by  the  evidences  of  belief  or  unbelief 
which  appear  in  our  hearts  and  lives. 

The  doctrine,  rightly  apprehended,  is  full  of  precious  uses 
and  consolations.  It  exalts  God,  giving  Him  the  glory  due 
unto  His  holy  name,  and  humbles  the  creature.  It  levels 
with  the  ground  the  self-sufficiency  and  pride  of  wicked  man  ; 
strips  away  and  tramples  under  foot  his  righteousness  as  filthy 
rags ;  casts  his  eyes  downward,  makes  him  smite  upon  his 
breast,  and  cry  out,  "  God  be  merciful  unto  me  a  sinner !  " 
and  plants  his  unstable  feet  upon  the  Eock  of  Ages.  It 
awakens  songs  of  unspeakable  joy  and  gratitude  in  the  hearts 
of  millions,  for  the  experience  of  the  love  and  mercy  of  God 
extended  to  the  guilty  and  the  lost,  at  the  infinite  sacrifice  of 
the  Son  of  God.  So  far  from  fostering  in  the  people  of  God 
pride,  sloth,  or  sinful  living,  on  the  contrary,  it  puts  within 


Jacob's  prophecy  •  concerning  shiloii.  257 

them  imdying  principles  of  faith,  love,  and  liol j  fear  ;  clothes 
them  with  humility,  and  arouses  them  to  a  godly,  righteous, 
and  sober  life.  It  furnishes  the  true  ground  of  encouragement 
for  all  God's  people  and  ministers,  in  their  several  places  and 
stations,  to  labor  for  the  enlargement  and  perpetuity  of  the 
Church  in  the  salvation  of  immortal  souls.  For  if  there  be  no 
election,  there  can  be  no  Church.  God  has  His  elect  people 
to  save  out  of  the  vi'orld.  Therefore  His  address  to  His 
ministers  is,  "  Be  not  afraid,  but  speak,  and  hold  not  thy 
peace ;  for  I  am  with  thee,  and  no  man  shall  set  on  thee  to 
hurt  thee  :  for  I  have  much  people  in  this  city."  It  encour- 
ages lost  sinners  to  come  and  throw  themselves  upon  the 
mercy  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus ;  and  it  gives  the  consolation 
of  an  assured  hope  to  believers,  since  they  may  know  their 
election  of  God,  by  discerning  in  themselves  the  graces  of 
God's  spirit,  which  belong  to  the  elect. 

Jacob,  the  elect  of  God,  in  his  last  interview  with  his  sons 
on  his  dying  bed,  uttered  the  remarkable  prophecy  concerning 
Shiloh :  "  The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Judah,  nor  a 
lawgiver  from  between  his  feet,  until  Shiloh  come,  and  unto 
Him  shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be,"  Gen.  xlix.  8-12. 
The  prophecy  embraces  two  particulars,  that  kingly  power 
should  lodge  in  Judah,  and  be  taken  away  when  Shiloh  came* 
that  Shiloh  should  descend  from  Judah,  and  happy  would  be 
the  consequences  of  his  coming  in  the  gathering  of  the  people 
unto  Him.     The  first  had  its  accomplishment. 

Jacob  had  already  clothed  Judah  with  authority  over  his 
brethren.  Gen.  xlix.  8-9,  and  made  him  the  lion  of  the  tribes. 
In  the  prophecy,  he  tells  how  long  he  shall  rule.  The  word 
"  sceptre,"  is  a  sign  put  for  the  thing  signified,  namely,  sover- 
eignty, or  the  kingly  power — "  lawgiver  "  corresponds  Avith  it, 
signifying  a  ruler  or  sovereign  prince;  so  that  the  two  phrases, 
"  the  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Judah,"  "  nor  a  lawgiver 
from  between  his  feet,"  are  synonymous,  and  mean  that  the 
kingly  power  or  self-government  shall  not  depart,  or  be  lost 
from  Judah,  until  Shiloh  come.  In  other  words,  the  j^cople 
of  God  should  continue  in  their  civil  state,  enjoying  their 
peculiar  laws,  and  governed  by  their  own  rulers  and  kings, 
17 


258  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

until   Shiloli   should  come.      After  His  coniing  the  sceptre 
should  be  taken  away. 

Moses,  fulfilling  prophecy,  made  Judah  the  leadmg  tribe, 
assigning  to  it  the  first  position  in  the  encampment  of  the 
tribes,  and  constituting  it  the  leader  of  the  van  in  their  march 
through  the  -wilderness :  Numb.  ii.  3  ;  and,  after  entering 
Canaan,  the  Lord  appointed  Judah  to  go  up  first  of  the  tribes, 
m  furthering  the  conquest  and  driving  out  the  heathen,  Judges 
i.  1-2,  and  again  to  go  uj)  first  in  the  war  against  Benjamin, 
Judges  XX.  18.  On  the  division  of  the  tribes  it  stood  alone 
with  Benjamin  in  opposition  to  the  other  ten,  and  the  kingly 
power  was  confirmed  to  it  in  the  person  and  house  of  David, 
concerning  which  David  says  :  "  He  hath  chosen  Judah  to  be 
ruler  ;  and  of  the  house  of  Judah  the  house  of  my  father,  and 
among  the  sons  of  my  father.  He  liked  me  to  make  me  king 
over  all  Israel,"  1  Chron.  xxviii.  4. 

The  ten  tribes  revolted  about  975  years  before  Christ, 
which  revolt  gave  rise  to  two  kingdoms  :  that  of  Judah,  com- 
posed of  two  tribes,  Judah  and  Benjamin  ;  and  that  of  Israel, 
composed  of  the  remaining  ten.  At  the  end  of  253  years  the 
kingdom  of  Israel  was  carried  into  captivity  into  Assyria  by 
Shalmanezer,  B.  C.  721.  The  kingdom  of  Judah,  reigned 
over  by  the  kings  of  the  house  of  David,  existed  134  years 
longer,  to  B.  C.  587,  and  was  carried  captive  into  Babylon 
by  Nebuchadnezzar  the  Great.  Babylon  was  taken,  and  the 
empire  overthrown  by  Cyrus  and  annexed  to  the  Persian 
Empire  538  years  before  Christ ;  and,  on  the  death  of  his 
uncle  Darius,  the  Mede,  Cyrus  became  king.  In  the  first 
year  of  his  reign,  and  in  the  seventieth  of  Judah's  captivity, 
B.  C.  536,  he  issued  a  decree  allowing  the  Jews  to  return  to 
their  own  country  and  rebuild  Jerusalem.  The  first  caravan 
was  led  by  Zerubbabel,  grandson  of  the  last  king,  Jehoiachin, 
of  the  tribe  of  Judah.  The  ten  tribes  liad  now  been  in  cap- 
tivity over  200  years.  AVhile  a  representation  of  all  the  tribes 
returned,  Judah  furnished  the  largest  number,  and  gave  the 
name  of  Jews  to  the  people.  Indeed  they  bore  the  name  of 
this  leading  tribe  in  Babylonia.  (Book  of  Esther.)  The  Jews 
passed  successively  under  the  dominion  of  the  Persian,  the 


Jacob's  pkopiiecy  concerning  siiilou.  259 

Macedo-Grecian,  the  Egyptian,  and  Syrian  empires.  They 
revolted  against  Autioclius  Epiphanes,  king  of  Syria,  under 
the  Maccabfean  princes,  and  obtained  their  independence  in 
the  year  143,  B.  C,  continuing  independent  until  subdued 
by  the  Komans  under  Ponipey  the  Great,  B.  C.  63,  when 
Judea  was  annexed  to  the  province  of  Syria.  In  all  these 
changes  the  Jews  were,  by  permission  of  their  conquerors, 
governed  by  their  own  princes,  imder  their  own  laws,  and  so 
continued  to  be  until  the  reign  of  Archelaus,  who  succeeded 
Herod  the  Great  on  the  throne  of  Judea  proper.  For  mal- 
administration he  was  deposed  by  Tiberius,  and  banished  to 
Gaul.  His  principality  was  converted  into  a  Roman  province, 
and  Coponius  appointed  Procurator.  At  that  time  the  power 
of  life  and  death  was  taken  away  from  the  Jews.  Subjects  of 
Home,  they  were  ruled  by  foreign  princes,  and  governed  by 
foreign  laws.  Shiloh  had  come.  Our  Lord  at  this  time  w^as  a 
child  at  Nazareth.  Coponius  was  succeeded  by  Yalerius 
Gratus,  and  he  by  Pontius  Pilate,  by  whom  our  Lord  was 
condemned  to  be  crucified ;  the  Jews  acknowledging  when 
they  sought  His  condemnation  at  his  hands,  "  that  it  was  not 
lawful  for  them  to  put  any  man  to  death,"  John  xviii.  31. 
Other  prophecies,  determining  the  time  of  tlie  coming  of 
Shiloh,  agree  with  this  of  Jacob.  The  seventy  weeks  of 
Daniel,  (usually  reckoned  from  the  going  forth  of  the  decree  by 
Artaxerxes  to  Ezra,  to  the  death  of  Messiah,)  end  at  the 
passing  away  of  the  sceptre  from  Judah,  Dan.  ix.  24-27.  So 
also  Haggai,  ii.  6-9,  prophesies  that  tlie  desire  of  all  nations 
should  come  while  the  second  temple  was  standing.  His 
coming  made  the  second  temple  more  glorious  than  the  first, 
although  as  a  building  it  was  inferior.  Titus,  son  of  Vespasian, 
destroyed  the  second  temple,  A.  D.  TO.  But  our  Lord  came 
W'hile  it  was  standing,  and  the  sceptre  had  departed,  Mai.  iii. 
4.  At  the  coming  of  Shiloh  there  was  to  be  an  end  of  the 
civil  state  and  constitution  of  the  Church.  The  great  ends 
for  which  the  Church  was  created  into  a  state  havine;  been 
accomplished,  that  peculiar  constitution  was  no  longer  needed. 
The  Jews,  however,  failing  to  receive  their  own  Messiah,  and 
having  crucified  Him,  still  most  tenaciously  held  on  to  their 


260  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF    GOD. 

civil  State.  Then  it  was  that  the  Son  of  Man  came  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven  with  great  power  and  glory,  and,  by  the 
Eomans,  utterly  overthrew  His  ancient  people,  casting  them 
away  for  a  season  and  destroying  the  holy  city.  Matt.  xxiv. 
The  second  particular  of  the  prophecy  has  in  part  been 
accomplished,  and  will  continue  in  process  of  accomplishment 
till  the  end  of  the  world.  Judah  was  the  progenitor  of  Shiloh, 
through  the  house  of  David,  according  to  all  the  genealogies 
and  declarations  of  both  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  The 
babe  of  Bethlehem  was  of  the  town  and  lineage  of  David. 
"  And  unto  Him  shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be."  The 
restriction  of  Shiloh's  kingdom  to  one  people  should  come  to 
an  end  at  His  advent,  for  the  doors  should  be  thrown  open  to 
the  Gentile  world.  So  ran  the  promise  made  before  to 
Abraham.  "  A  father  of  many  nations  have  I  made  thee," 
Gen.  xvii.  5  ;  Rom.  iv.  17.  Thus  early  was  the  Church  taught 
to  look  forward  to  this  blessed  expansion,  and  in  after  ages  the 
prophets  dwelt  with  delight  upon  the  approaching  glory. 
Since  the  command  of  our  Lord  to  His  disciples,  "  Go  ye  into 
all  the  world  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature,"  the 
Gospel  has  been  preached  to  all  nations  ;  the  IToly  Spirit  has 
sealed  it  to  the  hearts  of  men ;  and  the  gathering  of  the  people 
has  been  and  shall  continue  to  be  to  Christ.  Our  Lord  was 
designated  in  the  original  promise  as,  "  the  seed  of  the 
woman."  Jacob  gives  him  a  name,  Shiloh,  which  indicates 
his  character  and  work.  It  signifies  rest,  peace — the  very 
character  and  work  ascribed  to  Him  in  all  the  word  of  God, 
Isa.  ix.  6-7 ;  xi.  1-10 ;  liii.  5 ;  Ps.  Ixxii.  1-20 ;  Dan.  ix. 
24-26  ;  Luke  ii.  14 ;  Acts  x.  36  ;  Col.  i.  20,  etc.  His  people 
in  all  ages  and  countries  have  looked  unto  Him  as  the  giver 
of  rest  and  peace  to  their  guilty  and  troubled  souls,  through 
His  own  precious  blood  shed  for  them,  and  His  Spirit  poured 
out  upon  them.  Rest  and  peace  with  God  none  but  Jesus  can 
give.  Matt.  xi.  28-30  ;  John  xiv.  27.  To  this  Prince  of  Peace 
the  dying  Patriarch  Jacob  committed  his  soul,  and  that  is  the 
precious  privilege  of  all  who  believe  in  Him.  "  Lito  thy 
hands  I  commit  my  spirit :  thou  hast  redeemed  me,  O  Lord 
God  of  truth,"  Ps.  xxxi.  5. 


THE   VISIBLE   CHUECH   IN   EGYPT.  261 


CHAPTEE  XYIII. 

THE  VISIBLE  CHURCH  IN  EGYPT. — NUMBER  THAT  WENT  DOWN. — PERIOD  OF 
SOJOURNING,  AND  OP  BONDAGE  IN  EGYPT. — CAUSE  OP  THE  BONDAGE  ; 
REMOVED  BY  REPENTANCE. — INCREASE  OF  CHURCH  IN  EGYPT. — NUM- 
BER THAT  CAME  OUT. — THEIR  CIVIIi  GOVERNMENT  IN  EGYPT. — STATE 
OP  RELIGION. — MOSES  THE  AGENT  OP  DELIVERANCE. — OBSTACLES  TO 
THE  SUCCESS  OP  HIS  MISSION. — MEANS  OP  CONVICTION  AND  DELIVER- 
ANCE.— MIRACLES  AND  PROPHECY,  PILLARS  OP  DIVINE  REVELATION. — 
BOTH  CONSIDERED, — DIVINE  LEGATION  OP  MOSES  ESTABLISHED. 

The  removal  of  the  visible  Clinrch  into  Egypt  was  by  tlie 
providence  and  command  of  God,  with  a  promise  that  He 
would  there  make  them  a  great  nation  and  surely  bring  them 
up  again  into  their  own  promised  land.  Gen.  xlv.  27-28.  So 
spake  He  to  Jacob  in  the  visions  of  the  night  at  Beer-sheba, 
tlie  "first  stage  in  his  journey,  xlvi.  1-4,  and  herein  was  He  ful- 
filling what  He  had  long  before  expressed  to  Abraham,  Gen. 
XV.  13-14.  "  Know  of  a  surety  tliat  thy  seed  shall  be  a  stranger 
in  a  land  that  is  not  theirs,  and  shall  serve  therein,  and  they 
sliall  afflict  them  four  hundred  years  :  and  also  that  nation 
whom  they  sliall  serve,  will  I  judge,  and  afterward  shall  they 
come  out  with  great  substance." 

The  number  of  the  most  conspicuous  and  influential  mem- 
bers who  went  down  into  Egypt  is  given — the  mustard  seed 
from  which  the  great  tree  sprang.  The  removal  was  of  "  Jacob 
and  all  his  seed,"  clean  and  perfect ;  nothing  was  left  behind 
belonging  to  them,  either  of  persons  or  of  property,  Gen.  xlvi. 
1-27.  In  the  family  of  Leah,  first  in  order,  there  were  thirty- 
three  individuals,  if  we  throv/  out  Er  and  Onan,  who  died  in 
the  land  of  Canaan,  and  count  in  the  Patriarch  Jacob  and  his 


2G2  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF    GOD. 

daughter  Diuali.  Zilpali's  family  numbers  sixteen,  counting 
in  her  daughter  Serah  ;  Rachel's  family,  all  sons,  fourteen  ; 
and  Bilhah's  family,  all  sons,  seven — making  a  total  of  seventy 
persons — that  is,  sixty-six  came  with  Jacob,  Gen.  xlvi,  26. 
Add  the  Patriarch,  Joseph,  and  his  two  sons,  already  in  Egypt, 
(four  more,)  and  we  have  seventy.  Gen.  xlvi.  27,  and  Deut.  x. 
22.  The  martyr  Stephen,  Acts  vii.  14,  adds  five  to  this 
number.  There  is  no  better  way  of  reconciling  the  two 
accounts  than  by  supposing  some  five  male  children,  born  in 
Egypt  about  the  time  of  the  arrival  there,  who  are  added  to 
Moses'  number  by  Stephen.  The  wives  of  the  twelve  Patri- 
archs, and  their  daughters,  cannot  be  counted,  for  they  would 
make  too  many,  and  are  not  reckoned  at  all.  Gen.  xlvi.  7- 
Only  Jacob,  his  twelve  sons  and  two  daughters.  Gen.  xlvii.  15, 
17,  his  sons'  sons  and  their  grandsons.  Gen.  xlvii.  17,  are 
reckoned. 

This  number  seventy-five  would  be  largely  increased  by 
the  addition  of  his  sons'  wives,  and  the  Avives  of  his  sons'  sons, 
and  his  sons'  daughters,  Gen.  xlvii.  7.  If  we  include  the 
Shechemites  conquered  and  incorporated  with  the  Israelites, 
and  all  servants  attached  to  their  households,  (and,  judging  by 
the  numbers  owned  by  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  there  must 
have  been  very  many,)  the  whole  company  would  amount  to 
several  hundreds,  and  perhaps  fall  little  short  of  a  thousand. 
Under  the  fostering  hand  of  Joseph,  and  of  the  rulers  of 
Egypt  after  his  death — who  gratefully  remembered  his  services 
— and  the  special  blessing  of  God,  "  the  children  of  Israel  were 
fruitful,  and  increased  abundantly,  and  multiplied,  and  waxed 
exceeding  mighty  ;  and  the  land  was  filled  with  them,"  Exod. 
i.  1-7. 

The  time  of  the  sojourning  of  the  Church  in  Canaan,  and  in 
Egypt,  that  is,  from  the  call  of  Abraham  to  the  exodus,  is 
given,  first,  to  Abraham  in  round  centuries,  four  hundred 
years.  Gen.  xv.  13-14 ;  Acts  vii.  6-7  ;  and,  next,  to  Moses  in 
the  number  of  years,  four  hundred  and  thirty,  Exod.  xii. 
40-41 ;  Gal.  iii.  17. 

Half  this  period  was  passed  in  Canaan  and  half  in  Egypt, 
as  the  following  calculations  show :   it  was  twenty-five  years 


PERIOD   OF   SOJOURNING   AND   OF   BONDAGE   IN   EGYPT.       263 

from  Abraham's  entrance  into  Canaan  to  the  birth  of  Isaac  ; 
then,  to  the  birth  of  Jacob,  sixty  ;  then,  to  Jacob's  going  into 
Egypt,  one  hundred  and  thirty,  making  two  hundred  and 
fifteen  for  the  sojourn  in  Canaan,  Gen.  xii.  1-4 ;  xvii.  17-21  ; 
xxi.  1-Y  ;  XXV.  2G  ;  xlvii.  7-10.  Joseph  was  thirty  years  old 
when  made  ruler  over  Egypt,  and  thirty-nine  when  his  father 
came  down  to  him,  (for  seven  years  of  plenty  and  two  of 
famine  had  passed,  Gen.  xlv.  6-11,)  and  died  seventy-one 
years  after  his  father's  coming,  (born  B.  C.  17-15,  and  died 
B.  C.  1635,)  aged  one  hundred  and  ten  years.  Gen.  1.  26. 
Moses  was  born  (B.  C.  1571)  sixty-four  years  after  Joseph's 
death,  and  he  was  eighty  years  old  when  the  exodus  occurred, 
making  two  hundred  and  fifteen  for  the  sojourn  in  Egypt. 

But  the  children  of  Israel  were  not  in  bondage  during  their 
two  hundred  and  fifteen  years'  stay  in  Egypt,  because  they 
enjoyed  freedom,  protection,  and  prosperity,  under  Joseph,  for 
seventy-one  years  and  for  some  time  after,  Exod.  i.  7,  until 
they  became  so  numerous,  "  that  the  land  was  filled  with 
them,"  and  they  could  but  be  a  valuable  addition  to  the 
wealth  and  poAver  of  the  country.  The  statement  of  the  "  nevr 
king,"  wlio  acknowledged  not  the  benefit  conferred  on  Egyj^t 
by  Joseph,  or  the  kind  consideration  in  which  his  countrymen 
should  be  held  on  his  account,  as  well  as  their  own,  (for  they 
were  peaceable  and  good  subjects,)  namely,  that  "  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  are  more  and  mightier  than  we,"  was  not 
altogether  a  blind  to  cover  imperial  and  national  cupidity  and 
injustice ;  for  it  is  said  in  Ps.  cv.  23-24,  "  Israel  also  came 
into  Egypt ;  and  Jacob  sojourned  in  the  land  of  Ham.  And 
He  increased  His  people  greatly ;  and  made  them  stronger 
than  their  enemies."  The  people  were  viewed  with  distrust, 
and  the  design  of  the  new  king  was  to  crush  their  increase 
and  power,  reducing  them  permanently  to  the  condition  of 
slaves.  Said  he  "  Come  on,  let  us  deal  wisely,"  (in  a  politic 
manner,)  "  M'ith  them."  Let  us  put  them  under  circumstances 
to  prevent  their  dangerous  increase,  and  the  possibility,  in  any 
future  war,  (>f  their  joining  our  enemies,  recovering  their 
freedom,  and  getting  them  up  out  of  the  land,  Exod.  i.  1-10. 

If  we  allow  thirty  years  for  the  consummation  of  this 


264         THE  mSTOKY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  GOD. 

wickedness  (a  period  short  enough),  then  the  Israelites  would 
have  lived  in  Egypt  in  freedom  one  hundred  years.  The 
bondage  occurred  about  thirty-live  years  before  Moses  was 
born  ;  it  continued  until  he  was  eighty  years  old.  Putting 
the  years  of  bondage  together  (thirty-five  and  eighty),  we 
have  the  whole  period  of  bondage,  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
years. 

But  what  was  the  cause  of  this  remark aWy  severe  and  long 
bondage  of  the  people  of  God  to  a  heathen  nation?  Their 
idolatry  and  sin.  It  happened  to  Israel  as  it  did  in  after- 
times,  "  They  were  mingled  among  the  heathen,  and  learned 
their  works.  And  they  served  their  idols,  which  were  a  snare 
unto  them,"  Ps.  cvi.  35-36.  They  "  dwelt  in  the  land  of 
Egypt ;  "  they  "  saw  their  abominations,  and  their  idols,  wood 
and  stone,  silver  and  gold,"  Dent.  xxix.  16-17.  Moses 
intimates,  when  teaching  them -afterwards  at  Mount  Sinai  the 
kind  and  manner  of  the  sacrifices  of  the  Lord,  that  they  had 
previously  ofiered  their  sacrifices  "  to  devils,  after  whom  they 
had  gone  a-whoring,"  Levit.  xvii.  6-7.  Joshua  charges  the 
sin  upon  Israel :  "  Put  away  the  gods  which  your  fathers 
served  on  tlie  other  side  of  the  flood  "  (the  river  Euphrates), 
"  and  in  Egypt,"  Josh.  xxiv.  11 ;  Acts  vii.  12-13.  The 
Prophet  Ezekiel  does  the  same.  Eeproving  Judah  and  Israel 
for  the  worship  of  idols,  he  traces  back  their  idolatries  to  their 
earliest  history.  "  They  committed  whoredoms  in  Egypt ; 
they  committed  whoredom  in  their  youth,"  etc.  They  "  played 
the  harlot  in  the  land  of  Egypt,"  Ezek.  xxiii.  1-21.  In  Ezek. 
XX.  1-10,  he  gives  in  full  the  cause  of  the  afflictions  in  Egypt. 
Certain  elders  of  Israel  came  to  inquire  of  the  Lord,  and  sat 
before  Ezekiel.  The  Lord  answers  them,  "  As  I  live  I  will 
not  be  inquired  of  by  you."  "  Wilt  thou  judge,"  (or  plead 
for,)  "  them,  son  of  man  ?  Cause  them  to  know  the  abomi- 
nations of  their  fathers.  And  say  unto  them.  Thus  saith  the 
Lord  God  ;  in  the  day  when  I  chose  Israel,  and  lifted  up  my 
hand  unto  the  seed  of  the  house  of  Jacob,  and  made  myself 
known  unto  them  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  when  I  lifted  up  my 
hand  unto  them,  saying,  I  am  the  Lord  your  God ;  in  the  day 
that  I  lifted  up  mine  hand  unto  them,  to  bring  them  forth  from 


OArSE   OF   THE   BOXDAGE.  265 

the  land  of  Egypt,  into  a  land  that  I  had  espied  for  them, 
flowing  with  milk  and  honey,  which  is  the  glory  of  all  lands  : 
then  said  I  unto  them,  Cast  ye  away  every  man  the  abomina- 
tions of  his  eyes,  and  defile  not  yourselves  with  the  idols  of 
Egypt :  I  am  the  Lord  your  God.  But  they  rebelled  against 
me,  and  would  not  hearken  unto  me  :  they  did  not  every  man 
cast  away  the  abominations  of  their  eyes  ;  neither  did  they 
forsake  the  idols  of  Egypt :  then  1  said,  I  will  pour  out  my 
fury  upon  them,  to  accomphsh  my  anger  against  them  in  the 
midst  of  the  land  of  Egypt."  Here  is  the  perfect  discovery  : 
w^hen  the  Lord  would  have  brought  Israel  out  of  Egypt  into 
the  promised  land,  He  discerned  their  spiritual  declension, 
their  worship  of  the  idols  of  Egypt,  and  called  upon  them,  as 
in  His  former  dealings,  by  prophets  and  preachers  raised  up 
among  them,  to  repent,  cast  away  their  idols,  return  to  the 
Lord,  renew  their  covenant,  and  prepare  to  enter  Canaan. 
But  they  rebelled,  and  hearkened  not  unto  God,  continuing 
their  worship  of  the  idols  of  Egypt,  and  despising  the  promised 
land.  Wherefore  the  Lord  pom-ed  out  His  fury  and  accom- 
plished His  anger,  in  subjecting  them  to  cruel  bondage  in 
Egypt.     Their  great  sin  He  visited  with  great  judgment. 

The  bondage  was  brought  about  through  the  policy  and 
cupidity  of  the  king  of  Egypt,  after  the  manner  of  human 
affairs  ;  but  it  was  all  foreordained,  and  came  to  pass  through 
"  God's  most  holy,  wise,  and  powerful  preserving  and  gov- 
erning all  His  creatures  and  all  their  actions,"  and  for  the 
wisest  and  best  purposes,  Gen.  xv,  13-1-i,  18-21.  The  affliction 
was  not  removed  until,  by  the  grace  of  God,  it  was  made  to 
accomplish  the  end  for  which  it  was  designed ;  namely,  the 
repentance  of  the  people  and  their  cry  for  deliverance.  They 
were  however  long  afflicted  ere  the  precious  fruit  appeared. 
Seventy  years  rolled  away,  and  they  repented  not,  nor  had 
their  hearts  in  any  degree  relented  ;  for  Moses,  at  forty  years 
of  age,  "  learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,  mighty 
in  words  and  deeds,"  and  moved  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  under- 
took the  deliverance  of  his  brethren.  "  He  went  out  unto  his 
brethren  and  looked  on  their  burden?:  and  seeing  one  of  them 
suffer  wrong,  he  defended  him,  and  avenged  him  that  was 


266  THE   HISTOET   OF  THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

oppressed,  and  smote  tlie  Egyptian,"  The  daring  act  was 
placed  in  such  a  light,  that  "  he  supposed  his  brethren  would 
have  understood  him  that  God  by  his  hand  would  deliver 
them  :  but  they  willfully  understood  not."  They  rejected  this 
merciful  visitation,  and  refused  his  conduct ;  for,  the  next 
day,  exercising  the  authority  granted  him  by  God,  he  essayed 
to  act  as  judge  in  the  case  of  two  Hebrews  who  strove 
together ;  and  he  that  did  his  neighbor  wrong  thrust  him 
away,  saying,  "  Who  made  thee  a  ruler  and  a  judge  over  us  ? 
wilt  thou  kill  me  as  thou  didst  the  Egyptian  yesterday  ?  " 
Instead  of  putting  themselves  under  his  leadership,  they  made 
no  secret  of  his  first  act  towards  their  redemption,  and,  by  the 
publicity  which  they  gave  it,  exposed  him  to  the  wrath  of  the 
king ;  for  the  king  seems  to  have  comprehended  the  end 
which  Moses  contemplated,  and  therefore  Moses  was  obliged 
to  flee  for  his  life,  Acts  vii.  1-35  ;  Exod.  ii.  1-25.  "  Moses 
they  refused."  Forty  years  more  passed  away,  and  then  the 
end  of  the  affliction  came.  The  children  of  Israel  uttered 
tlieir  cry  of  repentance  and  their  prayer  to  God  for  pardon  and 
deliverance,  Acts  vii.  34 ;  Ps.  cxlv.  19  ;  Exod.  xxii.  23  ;  Ps. 
cvii.  10-15.  The  Lord  heard  and  answered,  and  a  second  time 
commissioned  and  sent  Moses  to  deliver  them,  Exod.  iii. 
1-22 ;  iv.  1-31.  "When  Moses  and  Aaron  came,  "  they 
gathered  together  all  the  elders  of  the  children  of  Israel.  And- 
Aaron  spake  all  the  words  which  the  Lord  had  spoken  unto 
Moses,  and  did  the  signs  in  the  sight  of  the  people.  And  the 
people  believed :  and  when  they  heard  that  the  Lord  had 
visited  the  children  of  Israel,  and  that  He  had  looked  upon 
their  afflictions,  then  they  bowed  their  heads  and  worshipped." 
"  They  cried  unto  the  Lord  in  their  trouble,"  and  "  He  saved 
them  out  of  their  distresses." 

This  subjugation  of  the  people  to  the  heathen  for  their  sins, 
and  especially  for  that  of  idolatry,  was  frequently  repeated  in 
their  subsequent  history.  They  suffered  the  affliction  of  par- 
tial captivity  during  the  reigns  of  the  Judges,  and  of  the  kings 
of  Judah  and  Israel,  ending  finally  in  the  great  captivity  of 
Assyria  and  Babylonia.  After  their  return  to  their  own  land, 
they  passed  from  one  heathen  sceptre  to  another,  with  a  brief 


INCREASE   OF    TUE   CHURCH    IN    EGYl'T.  2G7 

season  of  independence  under  the  Maccabees,  until  their  exist- 
ence as  a  state  terminated  at  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 
The  whole  is  beautifully  and  pathetically  expressed  in  Psalm 
cvi.  vs.  35-45.  They  "  were  mingled  with  the  heathen,  and 
learned  their  works,  and  served  their  idols,  which  were  a  snare 
uuto  them  " — thus  were  they  defiled.  "  Therefore  was  the 
wrath  of  the  Lord  kindled  against  his  people,  insomuch  that 
He  abhorred  His  own  inheritance  ;  and  He  gave  them  into  the 
hand  of  the  heathen,  and  they  that  hated  them  ruled  over 
them.  Their  enemies  also  oppressed  them,  and  they  were 
brought  into  subjection  under  their  hand.  Many  times  did 
He  deliver  them  ;  but  they  provoked  Him  with  their  counsel, 
and  were  brought  low  for  their  iniquity.  Nevertheless,  He 
regarded  their  affliction,  when  He  heard  their  cry,  and  He 
remembered  for  them  His  covenant,  and  repented  according  to 
the  multitude  of  His  mercies."  The  salvation  of  the  Church 
is  wholly  and  at  all  times  of  grace. 

The  bondage  was  universal  and  methodized,  for  Egyptian 
taskmasters  assigned  them  their  labors  ;  and  under  these  were 
appointed  officers  from  among  the  Hebrews  themselves.  It 
was  excessive :  "  all  their  service  wherein  they  made  them 
serve  was  with  rigor,"  Exod.  i.  1-22. 

But,  faithful  to  His  promises,  the  Lord  made  Jacob  a  great 
nation  in  Egypt.  The  efibrts  of  the  Egyptians  to  j-cpress  their 
fruitfuhiess  by  hard  bondage  availed  nothing  ;  "  the  more  they 
afflicted  them,  the  more  they  grew  ;  "  and  even  the  cruel  de- 
cree for  the  destruction  of  the  male  children  availed  nothing, 
for  ""  the  people  multiplied  and  waxed  very  mighty,"  Exod.  i. 
7,  12,  21.  No  power  of  the  Egyptians  could  "  stay  the  hand" 
and  jDurpose  of  God,  to  preserve  and  multiply  His  people  in 
Egypt,  until  they  should  be  sufficiently  numerous  to  go  up 
and  take  possession  of  their  own  promised  land.  The  calcula- 
tions made  by  learned  men,  of  the  possibility  of  so  large  an 
increase  from  so  small  a  beginning,  are  curious,  and  not  at  all 
necessary  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  pious  mind  ;  for  the  aston- 
ishing increase,  while  wholly  according  to  the  laws  of  nature, 
was  nevertheless  a  manifestation  of  the  special  intervention  and 
blessino;  of  God. 


268  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

The  number  of  men  "  able  to  go  forth  to  war  "  that  left 
Egypt,  was  600,000,  besides  the  women  and  children,  Numb, 
i.,  xxvi.  Prej)arations  for  the  removal  were  made  before- 
hand, so  that  the  vast  multitude  was  not  led  out  in  confusion, 
but  in  an  appointed  order,  "  by  their  armies,"  Exod.  xii,  37- 
38,  51.  In  addition  to  the  men,  women,  and  children,  "  a 
mixed  multitude  went  up  also  with  them,"  consisting,  it  is 
probable,  of  their  own  servants  of  other  nations,  and  of  heathen 
of  different  classes  who  had  been  proselyted,  or  who  had  con- 
nected themselves  in  some  other  way  with  the  Israelites. 
Allowing  for  every  male,  "  twenty  years  old  and  upward,"  four 
other  persons,  (women,  children,  and  servants,)  the  whole 
number  in  the  exodus  may  be  estimated  at  3,000,000.  The 
visible  Church  is  increased  from  a  little  flock  to  a  "  great 
nation."  "  This  is  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in 
our  eyes."  This  bondage  and"  deliverance  of  the  Church  are 
typical  of  the  spiritual  bondage  under  sin,  Satan,  and  the 
world,  and  of  her  glorious  deliverance  into  the  liberty  of  the 
children  of  God,  through  the  abounding  grace  and  power  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  "  delivers  those  who  through  fear 
of  death  are  all  their  life-time  subject  to  bondage." 

The  Israelites  were  distinct  from  the  Egyptians  in  origin, 
occupation,  religion,  and  laws.  While  subjected  in  general  to 
the  Egyptian  sway,  they  exercised  liberty  of  conscience,  main- 
tained the  faith  and  form  of  their  own  worship,  and  a  civil 
government  over  and  among  themselves.  The  precise  form 
of  civil  government  denominated  "  patriarchal "  is  not  ascer- 
tained from  Scriptm'c,  beyond  the  general  notion  that  the 
patriarch  exercised  the  powers  and  prerogatives  of  a  supreme 
ruler  of  his  own  household  and  tribe.  When  his  tribe  became 
large,  and  there  existed  a  necessity  for  assistants  in  govern- 
ment, such  assistants  were  appointed  ;  but  in  what  way  and  in 
what  tribunals  justice  was  administered,  we  know  not.  The 
only  piece  of  civil  history  recorded  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt, 
until  they  became  enslaved,  is  that  of  the  slaying  of  some  of 
the  sons  of  Ephraim  during  his  lifetime,  by  the  men  of  Gath, 
when  they  came  down  to  take  away  their  cattle.  The  sons  of 
Ephraim  were  slain  in  defence  of  their  j^roperty,  which  threw 


CIVIL   GOVERNMENT   AND   STATE   OF    KELIGION.  269 

Ephraim  into  great  distress  for  many  days,  and  his  brethren 
came  to  comfort  him,  1  Chron.  vii.  20-23. 

But  we  may  be  assured  that  so  great  a  body  of  people  not 
only  required  an  efficient  form  of  government,  but  actually 
j)Ossessed  one,  springing  out  of  the  patriarchal,  and  adapting 
itself  to  the  wants  of  the  people  ;  for  they  were  ruled  by  rulers 
styled  "  elders,"  "  elders  of  Israel,"  whom  Moses  and  Aaron, 
by  God's  command,  that  they  might  proceed  in  due  order, 
"  gathered  together,"  Exod.  iii.  16  ;  before  whom  they  deliv- 
ered their  commission,  and  performed  "  the  signs  "  of  their 
appointment,  to  deliver  the  people,  Exod.  iv.  30-31 ;  and 
whom  Moses  was  to  take  with  him  in  a  body,  and  approach 
the  throne  of  Pharaoh  and  desire  deliverance,  Exod,  iii.  18. 
How  many  there  were,  how  appointed,  with  what  powers  in- 
vested in  civil  and  ecclesiastical  affairs,  or  whether  there  were 
auy  other  civil  officers  beside,  we  know  not,  l!fumb.  xi.  10-17. 

The  laws  by  which  the  people  were  governed,  were  founded 
upon  the  moral  law  of  God,  well  understood  both  before  and 
after  the  flood.  The  great  principles  of  justice  between  man 
and  man,  and  the  crimes  worthy  of  punishment  in  the  tribe 
or  nation,  were  well  understood  in  the  age  of  Job,  as  his  book 
abundantly  shows ;  and,  from  the  individual  histories  of  the 
Patriarchs  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  we  have  no  reason  to 
believe  that  they  were  less  understood  by  them.  Atheism  or 
idolatry,  disobedience  to  authority,  fraud,  violence,  oppression, 
murder,  robbery,  adultery,  cruelty,  false  witness,  were  crimes 
to  be  punished  by  the  j  udge. 

If  the  civil  history  of  the  Church  is  briefly  passed  over,  the 
same  is  true  of  the  religious  history.  All  the  previously  re- 
vealed doctrines,  constituting  the  faith  of  the  Church,  the  holy 
sabbath,  divine  worship,  the  rite  of  sacriflce,  and  laws  apper- 
taining thereto,  the  order  of  the  priesthood,  tithes,  prophets, 
the  rite  of  circumcision,  the  covenant  of  Abraham,  with  its 
provisions  and  promises,  were  all  in  existence,  preserved  and 
cherished  by  the  people.  Their  idolatry,  for  which  the  Lord 
warned  and  reproved  them,  and  finally  punished  them,  demon- 
strates the  previous  state  of  the  Church  to  have  been  in  gen- 
eral one  of  purity  and  intelligence.     God  acted  as  the  Iviug 


270  THE   HISTOKY    OF   THE   CHUECH    OF   GOD. 

and  Head,  and  watched  over  and  governed  His  people  in 
Egypt  by  His  wonted  methods  and  agents,  as  He  had  done 
before  they  entered  into  Egypt,  and  as  He  ever  did  after  they 
went  out  from  that  land. 

The  state  of  religion  was  marked  with  prosperity  in  the 
beginning,  with  declension  in  the  middle,  and  with  a  revival 
in  the  end.  Jacob,  an  eminent  saint,  is  always  mentioned  with 
high  honor,  and  associated  with  Abraham  and  Isaac.  Joseph 
was  partaker  of  the  like  faith,  and  was  one  of  the  brightest 
examples  of  every  grace.  While  he  lived,  the  people  main- 
tained their  integrity  ;  bnt  when  he  died,  and  the  men  of  his 
generation  were  no  more,  they  declined,  and  provoked  the 
Lord  by  idolatry.  Long  did  He  withdraw  the  light  of  His 
countenance,  and  grievously  chastise  them,  till  finally,  when 
they  repented.  He  sanctified  His  chastisements,  forgiving  and 
delivering  them. 

However,  in  this  darkness  there  were  those  who  shone  as 
lights,  remaining  true  to  God  and  His  covenant,  and  who  did 
not  bow  the  knee  to  idols.  Of  such  were  midwives,  "  who 
feared  God,"  and  kept  themselves  from  iniquity,  although 
commanded  by  tlie  king  ;  of  such  were  the  parents  of  Moses, 
"  who  was  hid  three  months  by  them — they  were  not  afraid  of 
the  king's  commandment ;  "  and  Moses  himself,  "  who,  when 
he  was  come  to  years,  refused  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh's 
daughter,  choosing  rather  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  peoj^le 
of  God  than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season,  esteem- 
ing the  reproach  of  Christ  greater  riches  than  the  treasures  of 
Egypt ;  for  he  had  respect  unto  the  recompense  of  reward. 
By  faith  "  (rejected  by  his  own  brethren)  "  he  forsook  Egypt, 
not  fearing  the  wrath  of  the  king ;  for  he  endured  as  seeing 
Him  who  is  invisible,"  Heb.  xi.  21-27. 

The  cnp  of  the  iniquities  of  the  Canaanites  was  full ;  the 
time  of  the  sojourning  and  captivity  had  expired,  and  in  the 
year  B.  C.  1490,  the  children  of  Israel  departed  from  Egypt. 

The  extraordinary  man  by  whom  the  Lord  accomplished 
this  wonderful  deliverance,  was  Moses,  a  child  of  grace,  a  son 
of  the  Church,  a  gift  of  God  for  the  purpose.  "  Now  the  man 
Moses  was  very  meek,  above  all  the  men  which  were  u])on  the 


MOSES  THE  AGENT  OF  DELIVERANCE.  271 

face  of  the  Ccartli,"  Numb.  xii.  3,  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  of  the 
family  of  Kohath,  and  of  the  house  of  Amram  ;  his  father  was 
Amram  and  his  mother  was  Jochebed,  also  a  daughter  of  Levi, 
Exod.  vi.  16-20.  Born  in  an  evil  time,  when  he  could  no 
longer  be  hid  by  his  parents,  his  pious  mother  put  him,  but 
three  months  old,  "  in  an  ark  of  bulrushes,  and  laid  it  in  the 
flags  by  the  river's  brink,  and  his  sister  stood  afar  off  to  Avit 
what  would  be  done  to  him."  He  was  discovered  by  Pharaoh's 
daughter,  and  hence  his  name,  Moses,  significant  of  his  salva- 
tion. She  adopted  him  as  her  son,  and  committed  him  to  his 
own  pious  mother  to  be  nursed  for  her.  Without  doubt,  he 
was  instructed  in  a  knowledge  of  his.  own  parents  and  people, 
and  of  his  God.  He  was  afterwards  brought  into  the  court  of 
Pharaoh,  and  there  educated  until  he  became  "  learned  in  all  the 
wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,"  and  a  man  of  note  and  prominence, 
mighty  in  words  and  deeds,"  Acts  vii.  20-38.  When  full  forty 
years  of  age,  divinely  moved,  he  undertook  the  deliverance  of 
his  people  ;  but  being  rejected,  he  fled  into  Midian,  and  there 
married  Zij^porah,  the  daughter  of  Jethro,  or  Hobab,  priest  of 
Midian  and  of  the  true  God.  By  Zipporah  he  had  two  sons, 
Gershom  and  Eliezer,  Exod,  xviii.  1— t.  Forty  years  he  spent 
in  Midian,  in  the  quiet  and  retired  occupation  of  a  shepherd. 
While  pasturing  his  flocks  on  Horcb,  the  Lord  appeared  in  a 
biii'ning  bush,  and,  graciously  overruling  all  his  objections, 
commissioned  him  to  return  to  Egypt  and  bring  out  His 
people.  The  greatness  and  difficulty  of  the  work  were  vividly 
represented,  and  the  Lord  intimated  to  him  that  His  people 
would  only  be  delivered  by  such  an  exhibition  of  His  own 
almighty  power  as  had  never  before  been  seen  on  earth  ;  for 
the  Lord  would  harden  Pharaoh's  heart,  so  that  he  would  not 
let  them  go  ;  he  would  smite  Egypt  "  with  all  His  wonders," 
and  finally,  in  coming  out,  the  "  Israelites  should  borrow  of 
the  Egyptians  jewels  of  gold,  and  jewels  of  silver,  and  raiment, 
and  so  should  they  spoil  the  Egyptians,"  Exod.  iii.,  iv. 

When  Moses  inquired  by  what  name  he  should  declare 
God  to  His  people,  the  Lord  said,  "  I  am  that  I  am  :  say  unto 
them  I  am  hath  sent  me  unto  you  " — a  new  name,  expressive 
of  God's  self-existence  and   unchangeableness — to  His  people 


272  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF    GOD. 

the  same  God  of  mercy  and  faithfulness,  yesterday,  to-day,  and 
forever,  Exod.  vi.  1-3.  The  mission  of  Moses,  originating  in 
infinite  compassion  and  love,  carried  in  it  God's  forgiveness 
and  reconciliation,  filling  His  people  with  consolation  and  joy. 
Indeed,  the  address  which  Moses  was  ordered  to  make  to 
Pharaoh  was  designed  to  comfort  them,  and  to  awaken  the  seri- 
ous attention  of  the  king.  "  Thou  shalt  say  unto  Pharaoh,  Thus 
saith  the  Lord,  Israel  is  my  son,  even  my  first-born.  And  I 
say  unto  thee,  Let  my  son  go  that  he  may  serve  me  ;  and  if 
thou  refuse  to  let  him  go,  behold  I  will  slay  thy  son,  even  thy 
first-born." 

A  remarkable  incident  occurred  on  his  journey.  "  And  it 
came  to  pass,  by  the  way  in  the  inn,  that  the  Lord  met  him, 
and  sought  to  kill  him  " — to  kill  Moses,  the  saint  of  the  Lord, 
now  on  his  way  to  execute  the  greatest  trust  which  had  ever 
been  committed  to  mortal  man-!  What  was  his  offence  ?  He 
had  neglected  the  command  of  God,  and,  omitting  the  seal, 
had  slighted  his  covenant — one  of  his  sons  remained  uncircum- 
cised  ;  Zipporah,  in  anger,  performed  the  rite  with  a  sharp 
stone.  It  was  a  lesson  to  Moses  of  the  sacredness  of  the  cove- 
nant ;  of  his  responsibility,  in  a  peculiar  manner,  as  the  ap- 
pointed deliverer  of  the  people,  to  observe  himself  all  the  ordi- 
nances of  that  covenant,  and  to  cause  tliem  to  be  observed  by 
others.  Althou2;li  he  had  been  exalted  to  high  office  and  com- 
mand,  he  was  but  a  servant  in  the  house  of  God,  and  God 
must  be  supremely  obeyed,  Exod.  iv.  24-26  ;  Gen.  xvii.  14. 

The  obstacles  to  his  mission  were  formidable.  On  the  part 
of  the  Egyptians  he  would  have  to  contend  with  their  love  of 
power  and  pride  of  station,  for  they  had  subdued  the  people  ; 
with  their  love  of  ease  and  wealth,  for  the  people  were  valu- 
able sources  of  private  and  public  profit ;  and  with  the  bigotry, 
unbelief,  and  cruelty  of  heathenism.  They  knew  not  God. 
On  the  part  of  the  children  of  Israel,  he  would  have  to  contend 
with  unbelief  in  the  success  of  his  mission,  as  often  as  he  should 
seem  to  fail ;  with  their  subdued  and  broken  spirit,  which  it 
would  be  difficult  to  awaken  to  high  purposes  and  noble  dar- 
ing ;  with  the  dull  and  sensual  contentment  of  many,  who, 
used  to  servitude  and  its  regular  supplies,  desired  no  change  ; 


MEANS    OF   COm^ICTION   AKD   DELIVERANCE.  273 

and  with  the  principle  of  fear,  so  powerful  in  the  heart  of 
man,  for  they  would  dread,  on  account  of  Moses'  efl'orts,  in- 
creased oppression  and  suflering  at  the  hands  of  their  masters. 
But  the  promise  of  God,  "  certainly  I  will  he  with  thee,"  was 
fulfilled,  and  he  triumphed  in  the  use  of  those  means  for  con- 
viction and  success  which  God  had  put  at  his  command — won- 
derful miracles  being  the  chief.  The  Lord  is  said  to  have 
hardened  Pharaoh's  heart  against  these,  and  to  have  raised 
him  up  for  the  special  purpose  of  showing  by  means  of  him 
His  "  great  power,"  and  thereby  declaring  His  glory  through- 
out all  the  earth,"  Exod.  vii.  13,  23  ;  viii.  15  ;  ix.  12-16,  etc. 
Pharaoh  is  frequently  said  also  to  have  "  hardened  his  own 
heart."  He  was  an  instrument  raised  up  by  God  for  the  dis- 
play of  His  wisdom,  faithfulness,  goodness,  and  power,  on  be- 
half of  His  Church ;  of  His  justice  and  wrath  towards  His 
enemies,  to  the  end  that  God's  name  might  be  known  and 
glorified  through  His  wonders  in  Egypt.  The  Lord  was  not 
the  cause,  in  any  such  sense,  of  hardening  the  heart  of  Pharaoh 
so  as  to  destroy  his  accountability  ;  but  He  was  rather  the 
occasion  of  Pharaoh's  hardening  his  heart,  in  that  He  raised 
him  to  the  throne  of  Egypt,  put  him  in  circumstances  where, 
left  to  himself,  he  would  act  out  his  own  depravity,  and  har- 
den his  own  heart,  and  perish.  Predestination  does  not  de- 
stroy accountability,  Ps.  Ixxvi.  10. 

Observing  the  order  of  the  occurrence  of  these  miracles, 
there  are  the  introductory  ones  for  the  confirmation  of  the 
mission  of  Moses,  both  with  the  children  of  Israel  and  the 
Egyptians,  Exod.  iv.  1-9,  28-31 ;  vii.  1-13,  etc. ;  namely,  the 
rod  turned  into  a  serpent,  and  the  serpent  into  the  rod  again  ; 
the  hand  made  leprous,  and  made  whole  again  ;  and  the  water 
turned  into  blood  when  poured  on  the  ground.  These  pro- 
ducing no  effect  on  Pharaoh,  then  followed  the  miracles  of 
judgment  on  the  Egyptians:  1.  The  waters  of  Egypt  and 
the  river  of  Egypt  turned  into  blood  ;  and  the  destruction  of 
the  fish  ;  2.  The  plague  of  frogs  ;  3.  The  plague  of  lice. 
These  three  judgments  appear  to  have  been  on  both  the  Egyp- 
tians and  the  Israelites.  The  Lord  afterwards  severed  the  land 
of  Goshen  from  the  rest  of  Egypt,  and  so  spared  His  people, 
18 


274:  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   CHCTBCH    OF   GOD. 

Exod.  viii.  20-23  ;  ix.  4  ;  x.  23  ;  xi.  6-7  ;  xii.  13.  4.  The 
plague  of  flies,  Exod.  vii.  14-25  ;  viii.  1-32.  5.  The  plague  of 
the  murrain  of  beasts.  6.  The  plague  of  boils  and  blains.  7. 
The  plague  of  hail,  Exod.  ix.  1-35.  8.  The  plague  of  locusts. 
9.  The  plague  of  darkness,  x.  1-29.  10.  The  plague  of  the 
death  of  the  first-born,  xi.  1-10  ;  xii.  1-51.  This  last  awful 
judgment  comj^leted  the  work.  Pharaoh  and  his  people  were, 
for  the  time,  subdued. 

"  The  Egyptians  were  urgent  upon  the  people,  that  they 
might  send  them  out  of  the  land  in  haste  ;  for  they  said,  We 
be  all  dead  men."  Yea,  "  Pharaoh  rose  up  in  the  niglit — and 
he  called  for  Moses  and  Aaron  by  night,  and  said,  Kise  up, 
and  get  you  forth  from  among  my  people,  both  ye  and  the 
children  of  Israel ;  and  go,  serve  the  Lord,  as  ye  said.  Also 
take  your  flocks  and  your  herds,  as  ye  have  said,  and  be  gone ; 
and  bless  me  also."  Thus  the  people  were  in  a  manner 
"  thrust  out."  Yet  they  had  prepared  for  the  event  before- 
hand, going  out  with  deliberation  and  in  perfect  order  ;  for  the 
Lord  had  forewarned  Moses,  and  through  him  the  people,  of 
the  coming  of  this  last  judgment,  and  of  the  last  night  they 
would  spend  in  Egypt,  by  the  feast  of  the  passover.  From 
the  first  intimation  to  the  night  of  the  deliverance  there  were 
fourteen  days,  during  which  time  they  were  to  make  every 
necessary  preparation  for  leaving,  and  also  to  borrow  from  the 
Egyptians  "jewels  of  gold  and  jewels  of  silver  and  raiment ;  " 
and  they  had  plenty  of  time  to  do  it  in,  Exod.  xi.  1-4  ;  xii. 
35-36.  Upon  the  very  night  they  were  to  be  awake,  with  all 
their  families  and  households,  to  partake  of  the  paschal  supper 
with  their  loins  girded,  their  shoes  on  their  feet,  and  their 
staves  in  their  hands,  and  to  eat  in  haste.  "While  eating,  the 
Lord  would  be  passing  over  their  doors,  sprinkled  with  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  smiting  the  first-born  of  Egypt. 
When,  therefore,  the  great  cry  of  Egypt  broke  upon  their  ears, 
and  the  Egyptians  came,  and  Moses  and  Aaron  also  from  the 
presence  of  the  king,  and  said.  Go  out !  rise  up  !  go  forth  from 
among  us  !  they  were  ready.  They  gathered  their  substance, 
and,  agreeably  to  previous  arrangements,  the  land  of  Goshen 
■was  broken  up,  and  the  vast  multitudes  moved  away  "  by  their 


MEANS   OF   CONVICTION   AND   DELIVERANCE.  275 

armies."  This  was  the  forecasting  and  work  of  Moses,  the 
deliverer,  Exod.  vi.  26  ;  xii.  51.  It  seems  also  that  they  were 
numbered  about  this  time,  and  in  view  of  their  removal ;  for 
the  exact  number  of  men  of  arms  is  given,  600,000 — an  enu- 
meration made  perhaps  for  a  twofold  purpose  ;  to  ascertain 
the  precise  number  delivered,  and  so  to  mark  the  fulfilment 
of  the  promise  of  God  that  lie  would  make  of  them  in  Egypt 
"  a  great  nation,"  as  well  as  to  separate  the  tribes  and  arrange 
them  for  removal.  Without  previous  arrangement  it  would 
have  been  difficult  to  have  led  out  either  comfortably  or  suc- 
cessfully such  a  multitude.  But  it  was  done  perfectly  and  glo- 
riously, as  it  had  been  long  before  foreordained  of  God.  "  Now 
the  sojourning  of  the  children  of  Israel  who  dwelt  in  Egypt,  was 
four  hundred  and  thirty  years.  And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  end 
of  the  four  hundred  and  thirty  years,  even  the  selfsame  day  it 
came  to  pass,  that  all  the  hosts  of  the  Lord  went  out  from  the 
land  of  Egypt.  It  is  a  night  to  be  much  observed  unto  the 
Lord  for  bringing  them  out  from  the  land  of  Egypt :  this  is 
that  night  of  the  Lord  to  be  observed  of  all  the  children  of 
Israel  in  tlieir  generations."  "  JN^ot  an  hoof  was  left  behind," 
Exod.  X.  26  ;  xii.  40-42  ;  xv.  13-14  ;  vi.  6  ;  vii.  4  ;  xii.  35-36. 
The  Lord  remunerated  them  for  past  labors,  and  provided  for 
them  in  their  coming  journey,  by  the  spoil  of  the  Egyptians. 
Said  He,  "  borrow  of  the  Egyptians  jewels  of  silver,  and  jewels 
of  gold,  and  raiment,  (Exod.  xii.  35-36,)  and  the  Lord  gave 
them  favor  in  the  eyes  of  the  Egyptians,  and  the}'"  lent  them 
such  things  as  they  required."  It  is  of  little  consequence 
whether  we  translate  the  original  word  "  demand,"  "  ask," 
"  borrow,"  "  lend,"  or  "  give."  The  transaction  was  well  un- 
derstood on  both  sides.  The  Israelites  were  going  out,  never 
to  come  back,  and  could  not  return  what  the  Egyptians  lent  or 
gave  them.  They  never  expected  or  intended  to  do  it.  The 
Egyptians  knew  just  the  same  thing,  and  were  glad  to  be  rid 
of  them  at  any  price.  What  they  lent  or  gave,  they  expected 
no  more  to  receive.  They  were  subdued  as  enemies  of  Israel 
by  the  God  of  Israel.  Their  treasures  were  given  and  taken 
as  spoil ;  they  were  of  the  nature  of  compensation  for  service 
rendered,  and  there  was  no  deception  on  either  side. 


276  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

The  Lord  delivered  His  people  by  miracle,  and  in  fulfilment 
of  His  own  prediction.  And,  first,  what  is  a  miracle  ?  Tm-n 
for  an  illustration  to  the  three  which  Moses  wrought  for  the 
conviction  of  botli  Israelites  and  Egyptians.  The  rod  was  in- 
stantly turned  into  a  living,  active  serpent.  By  what  means  ? 
By  the  power  of  Moses  ?  No  ;  he  was  simply  an  agent.  He 
threw  down  the  rod  ;  that  was  all  he  did.  The  Lord  did  the 
I'est,  and  wrought  the  wonder.  By  an  instantaneous  exercise 
of  almighty  power.  He  removed  out  of  the  way  the  wooden 
rod,  and  it  became,  by  substitution,  or  mysterious  change,  a 
living  serpent,  with  all  its  peculiar  structure  and  nature.  Then 
Moses  put  forth  his  hand,  and  took  it  by  the  tail,  and  it  be- 
came a  rod,  the  identical  one  it  was  before.  Moses  saw  and 
felt  the  rod  ;  he  saw  and  felt  the  serpent — all  was  real ;  he 
was  not  deceived.  It  was  the  immediate  exercise  of  the  power 
of  God,  and  that  in  an  extraordinary  way  altogether  difierent 
from  His  ordinary  actings.  Serpents  are  not  formed  out  of 
rods,  nor  rods  out  of  serpents,  according  to  the  natural  laws 
for  the  production  of  these  things  which  God  has  established, 
and  which  He  imiformly  observes.  In  like  manner  Moses  was 
a  mere  agent  in  thrusting  his  hand  into  his  bosom,  and  in 
pouring  water  upon  tlie  ground.  With  the  instantaneous  pro- 
duction of  the  disease  of  leprosy  on  his  hand,  and  the  instan- 
taneous change  of  the  water  into  blood,  he  had  nothing  to  do  ; 
— they  were  the  workings  of  the  power  of  God,  and  in  a  manner 
difi*erent  from  the  established  order  of  things.  Leprosy  is  not 
ordinarily,  or  universally  jDroduced  in  a  moment  of  time,  and 
upon  one  member  of  the  body  only,  all  the  rest  being  perfectly 
sound ;  nor  is  it  cured  in  a  moment  of  time.  Nor  is  it  any 
law  in  nature  that  blood  is  made  out  of  water.  Yet  the  hand 
was  Moses'  own  hand.  He  saw,  he  felt  the  leprosy  ;  he  saw, 
he  felt  the  cure.  So  also  he  saw  the  blood  ;  he  could  not  be 
deceived.  And  these  miracles  were  performed  openly,  in  the 
light  of  day,  in  the  presence  of  friends  and  enemies,  believers 
and  unbelievers— men  of  all  classes  and  conditions.  They  saw 
them  with  their  own  eyes  and  felt  them  with  their  own  hands. 
Their  senses  were  perfect ;  they  were  not,  and  could  not  be 
deceived.     Nor  were  these  miracles  in  themselves  trifling  and 


MIRACLES   AND   PROPHECIES.  277 

nonsensical.  They  were  remarkable  in  their  character,  simple. 
and  direct  in  performance,  and  attesting  conclusively  the  im- 
mediate presence  and  power  of  God.  l^or  were  they  per- 
formed for  the  ao-o-randizement  of  Moses,  or  for  the  amusement 
and  wonder  of  the  people,  but  for  the  declared,  invaluable, 
and  benevolent  purpose  of  convincing  them  of  his  divine  mis- 
sion, and  of  God's  intended  and  merciful  deliverance  of  them  ; 
and  also  for  the  purpose  of  convincing  the  Egyptians  of  the 
interference  of  the  almighty  God  on  behalf  of  His  j^eople,  thus 
inclining  the  Egyptians  to  release  them  without  hesitation. 

We  may  now  determine  what  a  miracle  is.  It  is  such  an 
act  as  God  only  can  perform — an  immediate  exercise  of  His 
almighty  power  in  a  manner  diverse  from  the  established  con- 
stitution and  laws  by  which  He  upholds  and  governs  all  things 
— open  to  the  observation — palpable  to  the  senses  of  men — • 
and  for  wise  and  benevolent  ends.  Of  such  a  character  are  all 
the  miracles  which  are  recorded  in  the  AVord  of  God.  Try 
them  by  the  definition,  and  they  will  not  be  found  wanting. 

The  design  of  miracles,  as  acts  of  God's  interposition  in  the 
government  and  conduct  of  His  Church,  is  to  convince  men 
not  only  of  His  eternal  power  and  Godhead,  Exod.  vii.  5,  and 
infinite  authority  over  all  creatures,  but  also  of  the  truth  of  the 
communications  He  makes  them,  whether  directly  by  Him- 
self, or  through  persons  chosen  by  Him  for  the  purpose.  Tlie 
result  aimed  at  by  conviction,  is  to  awaken  in  the  hearts  of 
men  sentiments  of  reverence,  confidence,  affection,  and  unre- 
served obedience.  Miracles  go  with  revelation,  confirming  it, 
and  sealing  the  mission  of  the  servants  of  God,  "  These  are 
the  communications  of  the  ever-living  God  to  you,  O  ye  chil- 
dren of  Israel  and  ye  men  of  Egypt,"  saith  Closes.  "  Show  us 
a  proof  of  God's  speaking  to  us  by  you,"  they  reply,  "and  we 
will  believe  and  obey."  "  Behold  the  proof,"  says  Moses,  and 
the  rod  becomes  the  serpent,  the  hand  becomes  leprous,  and  the 
water,  blood  !  The  people  believe,  bow  their  heads,  and  wor- 
ship. Thus  Moses  was  accredited  of  God,  and  so  were  Joshua, 
and  Samuel,  and  Elijah,  and  Elisha,  and  all  the  Prophets  and 
Apostles.  In  like  manner  did  our  Lord  seal  His  own  glorious 
mission,  Matt.  xi.  1-6.    The  necessity  for  miracles  in  attestation 


278  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHURCH    OF    GOD. 

of  divine  missions  and  communications  has  been  well  under- 
stood in  all  ages  in  the  Church.  The  Jews  said  to  our  Lord, 
"What  sign  shewest  thou,  that  we  may  see  and  believe? 
What  dost  thou  work  ?  "  "  Prove  your  mission,  as  Moses  did, 
by  some  great  miracle."  "  Onr  fathers  did  eat  manna  in  the 
desert ;  as  it  is  written,  lie  gave  them  bread  from  Heaven  to 
eat,"  John  vi.  30-31,  Again  :  "  How  long  dost  thou  make  us 
to  doubt  ?  If  thou  be  the  Christ  tell  us  plainly.  Jesus  an- 
swered them  I  told  you  and  ye  believed  not :  the  works  that 
I  do  in  my  Father's  name  they  bear  witness  of  me,"  John  x. 
24-25.  "  If  I  do  not  the  works  of  my  Father,  believe  me  not ; 
but  if  I  do,  though  ye  believe  not  me,  believe  the  works,  that 
ye  may  know  and  believe  that  the  Father  is  in  me  and  I  in 
him,"  vs.  37-38  ;  xiv.  10-11 ;  v.  36.  "  The  same  works  that 
I  do,  bear  witness  of  me  that  the  Father  hath  sent  me."  "  If 
I  had  not  done  among  them  the- works  which  none  other  man 
did,  tUey  had  not  had  sin,"  xv.  24.  Onr  Lord  appealed  to  His 
miracles  as  one  great  proof  of  His  divine  mission.  Matt.  xi. 
1-6  ;  Luke  vii.  19-23  ;  comp.  Mark  xvi.  20  ;  Acts  ii.  22  ;  xiv. 
3  ;  Eom.  XV.  18-19  ;  2  Cor.  xii.  12. 

The  miracles  of  the  Word  of  God,  so  many  and  so  various, 
may  be  thrown  into  several  general  classes :  for  example, 
miracles  for  confirmation  of  the  truth,  both  of  the  commission 
of  the  individual  performing  them,  and  of  his  communications 
to  the  Church  and  the  world.  Of  such  a  class  were  the  three 
miracles  of  Moses  just  referred  to  ;  the  dividing  of  Jordan  by 
Joshua,  the  burning  of  the  sacrifice  by  Elijah,  and  the  miracles 
of  our  Lord  and  His  Apostles.  Next,  miracles  of  judgment, 
such  as  the  Flood,  the  destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  the 
plagues  of  Egypt,  the  overthrow  of  Jericho,  the  swallowing  up 
of  Korah,  and  the  slaying  of  Sennacherib's  arai}'-,  Isa.  xxxvii. 
33-37.  Lastly,  miracles  of  mercy  and  deliverance :  such  as 
the  translations  of  Enoch  and  Elijah,  the  dividing  of  the  Red 
Sea,  the  giving  of  manna  from  Heaven,  and  water  from  the 
rock,  the  salvation  of  Rahab,  of  the  widow  of  Sarepta,  of 
Daniel  in  the  lion's  den,  of  the  three  children  in  the  fiery  fur- 
nace, and  of  Peter  and  Paul  and  Silas  from  prison.  Yet  the 
design  of  all  is  one — the  confirmation  of  the  eternal  power  and 


MEEACLEB   AND   PROPHECIES.  279 

Godhead  of  the  Lord,  and  of  the  tnith  of  His  communications 
to  the  Church  and  the  world. 

Touching  the  use  and  continuance  of  miracles  in  the 
Church,  they  appear  in  connection  with  prophecy  in  her 
earliest  days,  and  never  cease  but  with  tlie  period  of  revelation 
itself.  The  cherubims  at  the  gate  of  Eden  were  miraculous 
appearances  of  angelic  beings  ;  the  translation  of  Enoch  was  a 
miracle.  While  the  animals  and  birds  preserved  in  the  ark 
might  have  been  collected  by  the  skill  of  Noah  and  his 
associates,  the  impression  cannot  be  resisted  that  it  was 
miraculously  done.  The  Flood,  the  preservation  of  the  ark 
and  all  it  contained,  the  confusion  of  tongues  at  Babel,  the 
destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  Ad  and  Zeboim,  the 
appearances  of  the  Lord  and  of  angels  to  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob,  were  all  miraculous.  Moses  is  the  first  clear  instance 
of  a  divinely  commissioned  worker  of  miracles,  and  from  his 
time  onward  there  is  a  succession  of  workers  of  miracles  in 
the  church ;  yet  not  in  a  succession  continuous,  but  broken 
by  intervals  of  time,  some  longer  and  some  shorter  ;  and  the 
miracles  appear  to  be  wrought  when  particularly  needed  in 
the  history  of  the  Church.  For  example  :  all  the  important 
revelations  of  God  to  His  Church,  the  deliverance  from  Egypt, 
the  settling  of  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  constitution  and  laws 
in  a  fixed  and  permanent  form,  the  passage  through  the 
wilderness,  the  entry  into  the  promised  land,  its  subjugation 
and  partition,  and  the  final  and  permanent  settlement  of  the 
Church  therein, — all  these  wonderful  providences  seemed  to 
require  divine  and  manifold  and  manifest  attestations,  in  order 
that  they  might  command  the  unhesitating  belief  of  mankind  ; 
hence  it  was  a  period  most  prolific  of  miracles.  Moses  came 
first  and  was  followed  by  Joshua.  At  intervals,  during  the 
reigns  of  the  Judges,  when  God  punished  his  backsliding 
people  with  captivities,  He  established,  in  some  miraculous 
manner,  the  cull  of  those  by  whom  He  would  mercifully 
deliver  them.  By  Samson  he  wrought  several  very  remark- 
able miracles.  After  another  interval,  He  aroused  the  people 
by  the  ministry  of  Samuel,  which  He  confirmed  by  miracles. 
In  the  great  declension  of  both  Judah  and  Israel,  He  clothed 


280  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

the  Prophets  Elijah  and  Elisha,  with  extraordinary  miraculous 
powers.  Little  is  seen  of  miracles  after  their  day  until  the 
captivity.  Then  the  Lord  wrought  specially  for  the  conso- 
lation and  assurance  of  His  people,  in  the  salvation  of  Shad- 
rach,  Meshech,  and  Abednego,  from  the  furnace  of  fire ;  of 
Daniel  from  the  mouths  of  the  lions,  and  in  the  writing  with 
the  finger  of  a  man's  hand  upon  the  wall  of  the  king's  ban- 
queting room.  ISTo  miracles  appear  after  the  return  from  cap- 
tivity to  the  close  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  none  for  four 
hundred  years  from  the  close  of  the  Old  Testament  to  the 
coming  of  Messiah. 

His  coming,  upon  which  all  the  past  and  all  the  future  of 
the  Church  depended,  required  special  confirmation  that  its 
truth  might  endure  forever.  That  confirmation  it  received. 
The  miraculous  birth  of  His  Forerunner,  and  of  our  Divine 
Redeemer,  usliered  in  a  series  of  miracles  performed  first  by 
our  Lord  and  then  by  His  Apostles,  to  which  we  find  in  all 
respects  no  parallel  in  the  previous  history  of  the  Church. 
His  mission  from  the  Father ;  His  fulfilment  of  all  that  was 
written  in  the  law  of  Moses,  in  the  Prophets,  and  in  the 
Psalms,  respecting  Him  ;  His  revelations  of  God  ;  His  cruci- 
fixion and  atoning  death ;  His  burial,  resurrection,  and  subse- 
quent appearances  to  His  disciples,  and  His  final  ascension, 
were  all  established  by  miracles  of  the  most  impressive  and 
amazing  character.  For  the  short  space  of  fifty  days,  (from 
His  ascension  to  Pentecost,)  there  was  a  cessation ;  and  His 
disciples,  who  wrought  miracles  while  He  was  Mdth  them, 
ceased  to  do  so,  awaiting  the  promised  outpouring  and 
baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  The  Spirit  descended  and 
endowed  them  with  miraculous  powers,  in  confirmation  of 
their  commission  to  "  go  into  all  the  world  and  be  witnesses 
of  Christ,  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature  "  and  to  set  in 
order  the  things  of  His  kingdom,  finishing  and  sealing  up 
the  revelation  of  the  mind  and  will  of  God  to  man.  They 
executed  their  commission,  and  attested  it  with  signs  and 
wonders.  Upon  the  twelve  Apostles  and  Paul  (and  upon 
them  alone),  the  Lord  Jesus  conferred  the  power  of  bestowing 
upon  others  that  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  whereby  they  might, 


MIRACLES   AND   PKOPHECIES.  281 

in  Christ's  name  and  for  His  glory,  work  miracles  also ;  but 
these  could  not  transmit  that  power ;  so  that  when  the 
Apostles,  and  those  upon  whom  they  had  bestowed  the  gift 
of  miracles,  were  dead,  miracles  ceased  in  the  Church  forever, 
being  no  longer  needed. 

But  miracles  have  been  counterfeited,  not  only  to  destroy 
the  truth  of  God's  existence  and  revelation,  but  also  to 
estabh'sh  the  truth  of  systems  of  religion  of  the  most  idolatrous 
and  infamous  kind.  The  practice  of  divination,  magic  arts, 
witchcraft,  and  fortune-telling  were  common  among  the  heathen 
while  the  Church  was  in  Egypt,  and  formed  one  of  the  great 
sins  for  which  God  punished  and  extirpated  the  heatlien,  Deut. 
xviii.  9-14.  Egypt  liad  her  "  wise  men,  lier  sorcerers,  and 
magicians,"  and  when  Pharaoh  said  to  Moses,  "  shew  a 
miracle  for  you  ;  "  "  give  me  some  proof  of  your  mission  and 
authority  from  your  God,"  and  Moses  performed  the  miracles, 
Pharaoh  called  for  his  "  wise  men  and  sorcerers."  They  took 
their  time  and  set  to  work,  performing  the  like  with  their 
enchantments,  their  magical  arts,  and  cunning  slight  of  hand, 
imitating  the  miracles  of  the  serpent,  the  leprous  hand,  and 
the  blood,  (Exod.  iv.  1-9  comp.  v.  21  and  vii,  6-25,)  and  also 
of  the  frogs.  But  when  it  came  to  the  lice,  they  failed. 
"  And  the  magicians  did  so  with  their  enchantments  to  bring, 
forth  lice,  but  they  could  not."  "Then  the  magicians  said 
unto  Pharaoh,  This  is  the  finger  of  God,"  viii.  1-19.  Moses 
is  no  longer  viewed  as  an  extraordinary  man  of  their  own 
class,  a  magician  like  themselves  ;  they  confess  that  he  per- 
forms his  miracles  with  divine  power,  and  not  again  did  they 
essay  to  compete  with  him.  The  same  conclusion  ought  to 
have  reached  their  minds  some  time  before,  when,  at  the 
miracle  of  the  rod,  "  Aaron's  rod  swallowed  up  their  rods," 
vii.  12.  The  leaders  of  these  magicians  were  perhaps  "  Jannes 
and  Jambres."  "  They  withstood  Moses  to  turn  away  the 
king's  heart  from  the  truth,"  and  succeeded  for  a  time,  but 
"  their  folly  "  was  "  made  manifest  to  all,"  2  Tim.  iii.  8-9. 
The  lice  came  upon  them  and  the  boils  as  upon  others. 
"  The  magicians  could  not  stand  before  Moses  because  of  the 
boils ;  for  the  boil  was  upon  the  magicians  and  upon  all  the 


282  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

Egyptians."  The  boils  ended  their  battle  with  the  man  of 
God,  Ex.  ix.  8-11. 

The  idea  that  they  wrought  real  miracles,  whether  by 
power  given  them  immediately  by  God,  or  by  the  power  and 
help  of  evil  spirits,  or  by  their  knowledge  of  and  power  over 
the  hidden  forces  and  mysteries  of  nature,  is  not  simply  ridicu- 
lous ;  it  is  of  a  more  serious  nature — it  is  blasphemous.  Does 
it  not  contradict  the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Spirit  ?  Does  He 
not  say  "  they  did  so  with  their  enchantments  ?  " — that  Jannes 
and  Jambres  resisted  the  truth,  as  men  of  corrupt  and  repro- 
bate minds? — that  God  wrought  not  with  them  at  all,  and 
that  in  what  they  did,  they  acted  in  perfect  "folly,"  which 
was  made  "  manifest  to  all  ?  "  Moreover,  can  it  be  endured 
by  any  sober  and  pious  mind,  that  God  would  oppose  His  own 
gracious  designs?  that  He  would  covertly,  and  by  wicked 
heathen  magicians  overthrow "  the  mission  of  Moses  by  the 
very  miracles  by  which  He  had  determined  to  sustain  it? 
Let  no  man  suppose  it.  The  result  of  the  contest  proves  the 
idea  to  be  false.  The  magicians  could  not  stand  before  Moses  ; 
and  they,  as  well  as  all  other  Egyptians,  knew,  by  the  stretch- 
ing out  of  God's  hand,  that  He  "  was  the  Lord  "  Exod.  vii.  5. 
The  Lord  warns  His  people  against  this  class  of  wicked  pre- 
tenders ;  and,  while  the  Church  had  •  her  civil  constitution. 
He  enacted  severe  statutes  against  them,  and  against  all  who 
should  follow  their  pernicious  ways,  Deut.  xviii.  9-15  ;  Levit. 
XX.  27 ;  Jer.  xiv.  14  ;  Ezek.  xiii.  6-7,  23  ;  Exod.  xxii.  18.  He 
executed  judgments  also  upon  kings  and  people  for  yielding 
themselves  to  this  heaven-daring  sin,  1  Sam.  xv.  22-23 ; 
2  Chron.  xxxiii.  1-11.  The  witch  of  Endor  sought  to  perform 
the  miracle  of  raising  up  Samuel  for  Saul ;  the  prophets  of 
Baal  attempted  to  call  down  fire  from  heaven,  as  did  Elijah ; 
Daniel  encountered  the  magicians  in  Babylon  :  Dan.  ii.  1-28  ; 
iv.  1-37 ;  V.  1-31.  JSTor  did  these  pretentions  to  miraculous 
powers  cease  to  trouble  the  Church  in  after  ages. 

In  the  time  of  our  Lord  the  Jews  attempted  to  cast  out 
devils.  Matt.  xii.  27 ;  Acts  xix.  13  ;  and  after  His  ascension 
"ftilse  Christs  and  false  prophets  arose,  who  shewed  great 
signs  and  wonders,  insomuch  that,  (if  it  were  possible,)  they 


MIRACLES   AKD   PKOrHECIES.  283 

would  have  deceived  the  very  elect,"  Matt.  xxiv.  24.  These 
were  persons  who  essayed  to  work  miracles  after  the  manner 
of  the  Apostles,  Acts  xix.  13-17,  who  in  their  missions  en- 
countered Jew  and  Gentile  sorcerers,  magicians,  diviners, 
and  wonder-workers.  Acts  xvi.  16-18  ;  xiii.  6-8 ;  viii.  9 ; 
xix.  18-20.  Such  impostors  exist  to  the  present  day  in  all 
heathen  lands. 

More  than  this,  the  Apostle  Paul,  2  Thess.  ii.  7-12,  pro- 
phesies of  the  appearance  in  the  Church  (and  he  says  the 
mystery  of  iniquity  was  at  work  in  his  days)  of  "  that  wicked  " 
one  "  whose  coming  is  after  the  working  of  Satan,  with  all 
power,  and  signs,  and  lying  w^onders."  One  great  mark  of 
"that  wicked  one"  would  be  a  pretention  to  miraculous 
powers,  and  those  of  the  highest  kind.  The  Apostle  John, 
Rev.  xiii.  11-15,  saw  "  another  beast  coming  up  out  of  the 
earth,  and  he  doeth  great  wonders,  so  that  he  maketh  fire 
come  down  out  of  heaven  on  the  earth  in  the  sight  of  men, 
and  he  deceiveth  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth  by  the  means 
of  those  miracles  which  he  had  power  to  do "  etc.  The 
Apostle  speaks,  Eev.  xviii.  23,  of  "  Babylon  the  great,"  by 
whose  sorceries  were  all  nations  deceived  ;  "  and,  again.  Rev. 
xix.  20,  of  "  the  false  prophet  that  wrought  miracles."  Where- 
fore, it  would  seem  that  this  pretention  to  miraculous  power  is 
to  dwell  a  long  time  in  some  connection  with  the  Church,  for 
her  deception  and  injury.  So  has  it  come  to  pass.  For  many 
years  after  the  death  of  the  Apostles,  there  were  men  among 
the  professed  people  of  God  who  laid  claim  to  miraculous 
power,  so  that  ecclesiastical  writers  say  it  is  difficult  to 
tell  when  the  age  of  miracles  ceased  in  the  Church.  How 
extensively  and  ruinously  the  apostate  Church  of  Rome  has 
palmed  ofl:'  her  spurious  miracles  upon  an  ignorant  and  vicious 
world  embraced  in  her  pale,  is  known  and  read  of  all  men. 
This  she  endeavors  still  to  do  in  all  countries,  where  the 
ignorance  and  wretchedness  of  the  people  give  her  hope  of 
successful  imposture. 

There  have  been  in  modern  times  also,  obscure  sects  of 
religionists,  not  belonging  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  that  have 
for  a  brief  period  attempted  the  exercise  of  mu-aculous  powers. 


284  THE   HISTOEY   OF  THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

Now,  the  signs  of  a  true  miracle  are, — that  it  be  such  an  act, 
or  work,  as  none  but  God  can  perform  :  that  it  be  performed 
in  attestation  of  some  one  or  more  truths  emanating  from  God 
and  worthy  of  God :  that  it  be  plain,  intelligible,  open  to 
observation,  and  performed  for  benevolent  ends.  These  signs 
do  not  meet  in  spurious  miracles.  Since  miracles  have  ceased 
in  the  Church,  no  more  to  be  revived,  to  pretend  to  work  them 
is  a  mark  of  apostacy. 

The  Lord  also  delivered  His  people  out  of  Egypt  in  exact 
fulfilment  of  His  own  promises  or  predictions.  A  promise, 
prediction,  or  prophecy,  is  simply  an  eternal  purpose  of  God, 
made  known  to  men  some  time  before  its  execution.  The 
matter  of  it  may  be  good  or  evil ;  the  subjects  of  it  may  be 
the  Church,  or  the  world  generally,  or  some  portion  of  the  one 
or  the  other  particularly  ;  the  time  of  it  may  be  longer  or 
shorter  ;  the  number  of  agents  employed,  and  the  complication 
of  events,  may  be  definite  or  indefinite.  These  are  all  circum- 
stances included  in,  but  which  in  no  way  afiect  the  nature  of 
the  prediction. 

It  was  the  divine  purpose  that  Abraham  and  his  seed 
should  be  sojourners  for  430  years,  and  afterwards  be  settled 
in  their  own  land.  Abraham  reposed  in  faith  upon  it,  and 
Jacob  and  Joseph  encouraged  both  tliemselves  and  the  people 
with  the  assurance  of  its  truth.  Gen.  xv.  13-16  ;  xlviii.  21 ; 
xlix.  29-33  ;  1.  24-26.  When  the  Lord  called  Moses  the 
second  time  to  go  and  deliver  his  people.  He  referred  him  for 
support  to  this  prediction,  Exod.  iii.  6-19.  "  The  time 
appointed  to  deliver  my  people  has  arrived.  I  appoint  you 
to  execute  my  purpose ;  therefore  go  and  do  as  I  command 
thee  ;  only  believe,  thou  and  the  people,  and  thou  shalt  surely 
deliver  them,"  Exod.  vi.  1-8.  The  purpose  was  accomplished 
by  an  uninterrupted  succession  of  remarkable  events,  all 
happening  naturally,  in  perfect  consistency  with  the  free 
agency  and  accountability  of  the  persons  concerned,  and  yet 
God  was  working  all  in  all — finally  and  directly  with  His  own 
hand  in  great  miracles.  The  marriages  of  families  ;  the  births 
of  children  ;  the  enmities  of  brethren  ;  the  cupidity,  lust,  and 
oppressions  of  men ;  the  annual  seasons ;  the  dreams  of  the 


DIVINE   LEGATION   OF   MOSES   ESTABLISHED.  285 

night ;  the  presence  of  famine  ;  fraternal  and  filial  love  ;  the 
gratitude,  ambition,  avarice,  and  violence  of  kings  ;  idolatry 
and  servitude ;  the  lapse  of  centuries,  and  marvellous  wonders, 
— all  harmoniously  flow  towards  and  meet  in  the  consun^.- 
mation.  Surely  the  promises,  predictions,  prophecies  of  God 
(call  them  what  you  will)  demonstrate  His  eternal  decrees,  and 
are  moving,  everlasting  miracles  of  themselves.  This  prophecy 
now  fulfilled,  reveals  the  design  of  all  prophecy,  which  perhaps 
in  almost  all  respects  is  identical  with  that  of  miracles.  Genu- 
ine prophecy,  like  genuine  miracles,  can  emanate  from  God 
only,  who,  because  He  has  from  eternity  foreordained  whatso- 
ever comes  to  pass,  knows,  and  therefore  is  able  to  predict 
what  shall  come  to  pass.  The  Lord  challenges  to  Himself  all 
true  prophecy,  making  it  an  evidence  of  His  being  the  only 
true  God,  and  that  there  is  no  God  beside  Him.  For  the 
fulfilment,  He  pledges  His  own  existence,  sovereignty,  wisdom, 
power,  justice,  goodness  and  truth  ;  and  the  fulfilment  estab- 
lishes all  these.  Again,  prophecies  are  not  for  an  ostentatious 
display  of  the  being  and  attributes  of  God,  or  for  the  gratifi- 
cation of  the  curiosity  of  men,  but  rather  are  interwoven  with 
the  revelation  and  progress  of  the  covenant  of  redemption, 
and  are  of  practical  moment.  Their  fulfilment  serves,  as  do 
miracles,  to  avouch  the  truth  of  the  mission  from  God  of  those 
who  lay  claim  to  the  spirit  of  prophecy.  "  Knowing  this,  first, 
that  no  prophecy  of  the  Scripture  is  of  any  private  interpre- 
tation :  for  the  prophecy  came  not  in  old  time  by  the  will  of 
man."  It  neither  emanated  from,  nor  is  interpreted  by  him, 
"  but  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  the}^  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost."  To  prophesy  requires  omniscience.  It  is  therefore 
impossible  to  men  or  angels.  "  The  things  of  God  knowcth  no 
man,  but  the  Spirit  of  God,"  and  it  is  that  "  Spirit  which 
searcheth  all  things,  yea,  the  deep  things  of  God,"  that  reveals 
the  future,  2  Pet.  i.  20-21 ;  1  Cor.  ii.  9-11.  But  the  fulfilment 
of  prophecy  not  only  establishes  the  truth  that  the  prophet  is 
of  God,  but  it  also  seals  to  the  Church  and  the  world  the 
inspiration  and  authority  of  all  his  communications.  He  is 
able  to  say  with  the  worker  of  miracles  :  "  Thus  saitli  the 
Lord  ; "  and  he  who  despises  either  the  one  or  the  other,  or 


286  THE    HISTORY    OF  THE   CHUKCU   OF    GOD. 

both,  despises  tlie  Lord  who  sent  them.     Most  of  the  prophets 
wrought  miracles  also. 

The  gift  of  miracles  and  that  of  prophecy  ceased  together 
with  the  necessity  which  required  their  continuance,  1  Cor.  xiii. 
1-31  ;  Acts  ii.  16-21.  Though  miracles,  since  the  Apostolic 
age,  have  never  been  performed,  and  necessarily  were  fixed  to 
times  and  places,  their  evidence  in  support  of  divine  revelation 
becomes  stronger  and  stronger  with  the  lapse  of  time.  And 
although  the  spirit  of  prophecy  has  ceased  also,  and  fulfilled 
prophecy  in  like  manner  grows  stronger  and  stronger  with 
age,  the  evidence  is  cumulative  in  that  all  is  not  fulfilled  ;  for 
while  much  is  now  fulfilling,  much  remains  to  be  fulfilled 
through  all  the  ages  which  will  intervene  between  the  present 
and  the  end  of  the  world.  Time  is  not  a  universal  destroyer. 
He  is  a  votary  of  truth.  His  busy  hands  are  ever  employed  in 
adding  to  the  strength  and  beauty  of  the  pillars  which  support 
the  precious  "Word  of  God. 

The  prophecies  may  be  divided  into  the  fulfilled,  the  fulfill- 
ing, and  the  to-be-fulfilled  ;  and  they  are  found  in  the  sacred 
pages  from  Genesis  to  Revelation.  Forming  a  part  of  the 
decrees  of  God,  whereby  for  His  own  glory  He  hath  from  all 
eternity  foreordained  whatever  comes  to  pass,  they  are  but 
the  working  out  of  the  covenant  of  grace  in  time.  They  all 
have  some  connection  with  and  revolve  around  the  "  Sun  of 
High teousn ess,"  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  spirit  of 
prophecy,  Rev.  xix.  10  ;  1  Pet.  i.  10-12  ;  Acts  x.  43.  He 
came,  and  all  the  prophecies  relating  in  numerous  particulars 
to  His  coming,  were  fulfilled.  By  His  coming  He  consequently 
sealed  the  divine  inspiration  and  authority  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment in  every  part.  A  prophet  Himself,  He  delivered  pro- 
phecies already  fulfilled,  and  which  are  now  being  fulfilled. 
Thus  has  He  sealed  the  truth  of  His  own  mission  as  well  as 
the  divine  inspiration  and  authority  of  the  Kew  Testament. 
The  prophecies  will  ever  remain  to  confirm  the  faith  of  the 
Church,  to  afford  comfort  in  dark  hours  of  trial  and  affliction, 
and  encouragement  to  every  good  word  and  work,  and  to 
every  effort  to  carry  the  knowledge  of  the  Eedeemer  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth. 


DIVINE   LEGATION   OF   MOSES    ESTABLISHED.  287 

This  evidence  of  prophecy  has  indeed  been  counterfeited. 
False  prophets  have  not  only  appeared  in  the  heathen  world, 
but  among  the  professed  peoj)le  of  God,  and  at  intervals  have 
plagued  the  Church,  under  both  the  Old  and  New  Dispensa- 
tions, even  down  to  our  own  times. 

Moses  teaches  the  people  how  to  discern  a  true  from  a 
false  prophet,  Deut.  xiii.  1-4 ;  xviii.  20-22,  and  classes  false 
prophets  with  diviners,  dreamers,  enchanters,  and  sorcerers 
who  were  to  be  put  to  death.  The  Lord  says,  Jer.  xxii.  9, 
"  The  prophets  prophesy  lies  in  my  name  :  I  sent  them  not, 
neither  have  I  commanded  them,  neither  spoke  unto  them ; 
they  prophesy  unto  you  a  false  vision  and  divination,  and  a 
thing  of  nought,  and  the  deceit  of  their  own  heart,"  Jer  xiv. 
14-15.  "  They  cause  the  people  to  err  by  their  lies,  and  by 
their  lightness ;  they  shall  not  profit  this  people  at  all,"  Jer. 
xxiii.  25-34.  For  their  presumption,  blasphemy,  and  enormous 
sins  against  God  and  His  people,  the  Lord  condemns  such 
false  prophets  to  confusion,  and  punishment,  as  well  as  all  who 
follow  their  pernicious  ways,  Jer.  xxvii.  10-16 ;  xxviii.  1-17 ; 
xxix.  1-32  ;  Isa.  ix.  15  ;  Zech.  xiii.  1-4 ;  Jer.  xxiii.  14-16  ; 
Isa.  XXX.  8-14 ;  Ezek.  xiii.  1-23  ;  1  Kings  xviii.  20-40  ;  xxii. 
9-28.  They  appeared  also  under  the  New  Dispensation,  Matt, 
xxiv.  11,  24 ;  Acts  xiii.  6. 

Thus,  the  people  of  God  came  out  of  Egypt  by  mii'acle  and 
prophecy,  and  the  divine  legation  of  Moses  w\as  established. 
Nothing  was  left  for  them  to  do  but  "  to  fear  the  Lord  " — to 
believe  the  Lord  and  His  servant  Moses,  Exod.  xiv.  31.'  Their 
subsequent  acts  of  discontent  and  rebellion  were  without 
reason  and  without  excuse  ;  they  merited  as  they  received  the 
displeasure  and  punishment  of  God. 


288  THE  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 


CHAPTEE  XIX. 

THE  PASSOVER  TYPICAL  OF  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. — CONSECRATION  OF  THE 
FIRST-BORN  FOR  THE  PRIESTHOOD. — PILLAR  OP  CLOUD  AND  OF  FIRE. 
— PASSAGE  OF  THE  RED  SEA. — THE  ANGEL  OF  JEHOVAH  LEADS  HIS 
CHURCH. — ALL  REVELATION  OF  GOD  THROUGH  AND  BY  HIM. — JOUR- 
NEYS OP  THE  PEOPLE. — MANNA  FROM  HEAVEN,  AND  WATER  FROM 
THE   ROCK. — ENCAMPMENT  BEFORE  HOREB. — JETHRO's  ADVICE. 

.  The  Passover,  the  first  in  order  of  institution  of  the  three 
great  feasts  of  the  Church  under  the  Old  Dispensation,  was 
celebrated  in  the  evening  of  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month 
Abib,  or  Nisan,  which  month  was  ordained  to  be  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year,  in  memorial  of  the  deliverance  which  oc- 
curred the  same  night  the  passover  was  eaten,  Exod.  xii.  1-29 ; 
Levit.  xxiii.  5-8  ;  Numb.  ix.  3  ;  xxviii.  16  ;  Ezek.  xlv.  21 ; 
Dent.  xvi.  1. 

Yet,  for  good  reasons,  the  celebration  might  be  deferred  to 
the  fourteenth  day  of  the  second  month,  Numb.  ix.  6-15 ;  2 
Chron.  xxx.  1-15.  A  male  lamb  or  kid  of  the  goats,  of  the 
first  year,  and  without  blemish,  was  to  be  taken  on  the  tenth, 
kept  up,  and  slain  on  the  fourteenth  day  after  the  usual  man- 
ner of  sacrifices,  by  the  head  of  the  household — a  lamb  or  kid 
for  each  household,  or,  if  too  small  to  eat  the  whole  of  the  sac- 
rifice, two  households  should  unite.  Nothing  of  the  sacrifice 
should  be  carried  abroad,  and  whatever  was  left  over,  should 
be  burned  with  fire,  Exod.  xii.  42-51 ;  Deut.  xvi.  4 ;  Luke 
xxii.  T-11 ;  2  Chron.  xxx.  13-22 ;  xxxv.  1-11.  Not  a  bone 
was  to   be  broken :   it  was   to   be  "  roasted   with  fire,"  not 


THE   TASSOVER   TYPICAL   OF    THE   LORd's   SUPPER.  289 

eaten  "  raw,  nor  sodden  at  all  witli  water  " — eaten  "  with 
unleavened  bread,"  "  the  bread  of  affliction,"  (Deut.  xvi.  3,) 
and  bitter  herbs,  Exod.  xii,  22.  "  Tims  shall  ye  eat  it :  with 
your  loins  girded,  your  shoes  on  your  feet,  and  your  staff  in 
your  hand,  and  ye  shall  eat  it  in  haste."  It  was  partaken  of 
by  none  but  by  members  of  the  visible  Church,  of  suitable  age 
to  discern  the  nature  of  the  feast,  and  who  were  at  least  cere- 
monially clean  and  without  reproach,  Numb.  ix.  6-14 ;  2 
Chron.  xxx.  15-20  ;  xx::v.  G  ;  Ezra  vi.  20-21  ;  John  xi.  55.  If 
any  refused  to  keep  the  passover  he  should  be  cut  off  from  the 
people,  Numb.  ix.  13.  All  leaven  was  carefully  put  away  out 
of  the  houses  for  the  seven  days  of  the  feast,  and  from  this  cir- 
cumstance it  is  called  also,  "the  feast  of  unleavened  bread," 
this  act  signifying  spirituall}^  the  putting  away  of  sin  in  every 
form  from  the  heart,  life,  person,  family,  and  congregation, 
and  the  keeping  of  the  feast  with  all  purity  and  sincerity  unto 
God  their  Saviour,  1  Cor.  v.  7-9.  No  wine  is  named  in  the 
original  institution,  Exod.  xii.  Yet  wine  was  allowed  at  the 
sacrifices,  Deut.  xiv.  22-26 ;  and  when  our  Lord  celebrated  the 
passover,  He  used  wine  as  a  customary  thing,  Luke  xxii. 
lT-18,  etc.  The  feast  continued  from  the  fourteenth  to  the 
twenty-first  of  the  month ;  the  first  and  last  being  days 
of  holy  convocations.  The  entire  week  was  spent  in  religious 
services,  the  people  abstaining  from  their  ordinary  work  (but 
preparing  their  customary  meals,  as  no  fasting  was  allowed),  and 
offering  the  dail}"-  sacrifices,  as  afterwards  prescribed  in  the 
law,  Numb,  xxviii.  15-25  ;  Ezra  vi.  22  ;  2  Chron.  xxxv.  1-18 ; 
xxx.  21.  So  the  people  killed  the  passover,  and  sprinkled  the 
blood  with  a  bunch  of  hyssop  on  the  lintel  and  two  side-posts 
of  their  doors.  AVhen  the  destroyer  saw  the  blood,  lie  passed 
over  and  entered  not  in  to  destroy  them. 

The  paschal  lamb  was  typical  of  the  true  "  Lamb  of  God," 
"  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world."  The  true  Israelite, 
putting  away,  by  a  sincere  repentance,  the  leaven  of  his  un- 
righteousness, sprinkled  his  house  Avith  the  blood,  and  looked 
through  the  shadow  to  the  substance.  He  believed  that  as  the 
Lord,  according  to  His  promise,  would  pass  over  and  save  him 
from  bondage  and  death,  and  give  him  a  glorious  redemption 
19 


290  THE   HISTOET   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

out  of  Egypt,  being  sprinkled  with  the  blood  of  the  paschal 
lamb,  so  God  in  his  great  mercy  would  pass  over  his  sins,  and 
save  him  from  the  bondage  of  sin  and  death,  and  grant  him  a 
glorious  salvation  in  the  day  when  He  should  come  to  take 
vengeance  on  His  enemies,  his  soul  being  sprinkled  with  the 
true  blood  of  the  Lamb  of  God.  In  this  way  was  the  passover 
kept  "  by  faith,"  Heb.  xi.  28  ;  and  in  no  other  manner  could  it 
have  been  truly  kept — kept  by  all  Israel  together,  the  lamb 
having  been  slain,  prepared,  and  eaten  by  each  household  on 
the  same  day,  at  the  same  time  of  the  day,  and  entirely  con- 
sumed by  the  worshippers,  as  though  it  were  but  one  sacrifice 
for  all — the  one  body  of  saints  sprinkled  with  the  one  blood  of 
sacrifice,  and  rejoicing  together  in  the  one  glorious  redemp- 
tion. 

This  passover  has  its  fulfilment  in  the  ordinance  of  the 
Lord's  supper. 

The  Apostle  John  is  a  witness  that  the  paschal  lamb  was 
typical  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  xix.  33-36.  The  legs  of  the 
two  thieves  were  broken  to  hasten  their  death  upon  the  day 
of  their  crucifixion  :  "  but  when  the  soldiers  came  to  Jesns, 
and  saw  that  He  was  already  dead,  they  brake  not  His  legs — 
for  these  things  were  done  that  the  Scripture  (Exod.  xii.  46  ; 
Numb.  ix.  12)  should  be  fulfilled,  '  A.  bone  of  Him  shall  not 
be  broken.'  "  Paul  also  testifies  the  same,  1  Cor.  v.  1-8,  in  his 
command  to  the  Corinthian  church  to  excommunicate  the  in- 
cestuous members,  in  order  that  such  men  should  not  remain 
in  the  Churcli  to  leaven  it  with  their  wickedness :  "  Your 
glorying  is  not  good.  Know  yet  not  that  a  little  leaven  leav- 
eneth  the  whole  lump  ?  Purge  out  therefore  the  old  leaven, 
that  ye  may  be  a  new  lump,  as  ye  are  unleavened.  For  even 
Christ  our  passover  is  sacrificed  for  us  :  therefore  let  us  keep 
the  feast,  not  with  old  leaven,  neither  with  the  leaven  of  malice 
and  wickedness  ;  but  with  the  unleavened  bread  of  sincerity 
and  truth."  Peter  (1  Pet  i.  19)  seems  to  refer  to  Christ  as 
the  paschal  lamb,  when  he  says,  "  We  are  redeemed  with  the 
precious  blood  of  Christ,  as  of  a  lamb  without  blemish  and 
without  spot."  Our  Lord  said,  the  same  night  in  which  He 
'"Was  betrayed,  while  eating  the  passover  with  His  disciples, 


THE  PASSOVER  TYPICAL  OF  THE  LOKD  S  SUPPER.     291 

Luke  xxii.  7-15  ;    1  Cor.  xi.  23,  "  With  desire  I  have  desired 
to  eat  this  passover  with  you  before  I  suffer ;    for  I  say  unto 
you  I  will  not  any  more  eat  thereof,  until  it  be  fulfilled  in  the 
kingdom  of  God."     "  And  He  took  the  cup,"  (of  wine  drank 
at  that  feast,)  "  and  gave  thanks,  and  said,  Take  this,  and 
divide  it  among  yourselves :    for  I  say  unto  you,  I  will  not 
drink  of  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  until  the  kingdom  of  God  shall 
come,"  that  is,  in  its  fulfilment,  perfectly  come.    How  was  the 
passover  now  to  end,  and  to  be  fulfilled  m  the  kingdom  of 
God,  and  that  kingdom  to  be  fully  come  ?     In  no  other  man- 
ner than  by  the  sacrifice  of  Himself,  the  true  Lamb,  and  type 
of  the  paschal  lamb  for  the  redemption  of  His  people.     So  He 
immediately  taught  in  the  institution  of  the  Lord's  supper. 
"  And  as  they  did  eat  "  (Mark  xiv.  22  ;  Matt.  xxvi.  26  ;  while 
they  were  eating  the  passover  and  towards  the  close  of  the 
feast),  "  Jesus  took  bread,  and  when  He  had  given  thanks," 
(here  was  the  point  of  time  when  the  passover  ceased,  and  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper  began,  the  first  fiowing  into, 
and  finding  its  fulfilment,  in  the  second,)  "  He  brake  it,  and 
gave  unto  them,  and  said.  Take,  eat.     This  is  my  body,  which 
is  broken  for  you  ;  this  do  in  remembrance  of  me,"  Luke  xxii. 
19-20  ;  1  Cor.  xi.  23-26.     "  After  the  same  manner  also,  He 
took  the  cup  after  supper,  and  gave  thanks,  and  gave  it  to 
them,  saying.  Drink  ye  all  of  it ;    for  this  is  my  blood  of  the 
new  testament,  which  is  shed  for  many  for  the  remission  of 
sins.    This  do  ye,  as  oft  as  ye  drink  it,  in  remembrance  of  me," 
Matt.  xxvi.  27,  28  ;  1  Cor.  xi.  25.     The  passover  is  fulfilled  in 
the  Lord's  supper,  and  passes  away.     The  Lord's  supper  is  a 
perpetual  ordinance  in  the  Church  :  a  memorial  unto  all  gen- 
erations of  the  death  of  Christ,  and  of  our  salvation  through 
His  broken  body  and  slied  blood.     "  For  as  often   as  ye   eat 
this  bread,  and  drink  this  cup,  ye  do  shew  the  Lord's  death 
till  He  come."     His  people  would  have  Him  no  more  present 
in  person  on  earth  to  sit  with  them  at  that  table  ;    but  here- 
after they  should  sit  down  with  Him,  and  He  would  commune 
with  them  in  a  new  and  spiritual  and  perfect  manner  in  the 
world  above.     "  I  say  unto  you,  I  will  not  drink  henceforth 
of  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  mitil  that  day  when  I  drink  it  new 


292  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

with  you  in  my  Father's  kingdom,"  Matt.  xxvi.  29  ;    Mark 
xiv.  25. 

The  Lord's  supper,  like  the  passover,  is  to  be  partaken  of 
with  due  preparation  by  all  the  visible  Church  who  are  able 
to  discern  the  Lord's  body,  and  by  the  Church  then  present  as 
one  body,  in  the  act  holding  communion  and  fellowship  wdtli 
Christ,  their  Head,  and  with  one  another.  The  emblematical 
nature  of  the  passover  is  preserved  in  the  Lord's  supper.  The 
body  of  the  paschal  lamb  was  emblematical  of  and  stood  for 
the  body  of  the  Lamb  of  God,  hereafter  to  be  offered  for  His 
people.  The  blood  of  the  paschal  lamb  was  emblematical  of 
and  stood  for  the  blood  of  the  same  Lamb  of  God,  hereafter  to 
be  shed  for  their  sins.  The  paschal  lamb  was  roasted  and 
eaten  by  the  people  as  it  was,  the  very  body,  the  very  flesh, 
the  very  lamb  itself,  and  the  blood  sprinkled  remained  the 
very  blood  of  the  lamb  still.  The  unleavened  bread,  the  wine, 
and  the  bitter  herbs,  remained  unleavened  bread,  wine,  and 
bitter  herbs  still.  No  change  was  wrought  in  the  substances 
of  .any  of  these  things,  nor  were  they  converted,  or  transub- 
stantiated into  any  other  substances  whatever.  All  w^ere  repre- 
sentative emblems  only.  The  communicant  looked  through 
the  emblem  to  the  reality,  and  "  by  faith  "  received  the  great 
sacrifice.  In  like  manner  the  bread  and  wine  in  the  Lord's 
supper,  exchanged  for  the  body  and  blood  of  the  paschal  lamb, 
are  but  representative  emblems  :  the  bread,  of  Christ's  body 
broken ;  the  wine,  of  His  blood  shed  for  the  sins  of  His 
people.  There  is  no  change  wrought  in  these  elements  in  any 
way,  shape,  or  form.  The  bread  as  He  brake  it,  and  the  wine, 
as  He  poured  it  out,  remained  bread  and  wine.  When  the 
Apostles  ate  and  drank,  they  ate  and  drank  the  bread  and 
wane  handed  to  them  by  the  Lord,  and  nothing  else.  His 
body,  of  flesh  and  blood,  stood  living  before  their  eyes.  When 
He  gave  the  bread  broken,  and  said,  "  Take,  eat,  this  is  my 
body,"  they  saw,  handled,  ate,  and  tasted  bread  only,  looking 
V)y  faith  upon  that  living,  holy  body  which  stood  before 
them,  soon  to  be  broken  like  the  bread  for  their  sins.  When 
He  poured  the  wine  into  the  cup,  and  said,  "  Drink  ye  all  of 
it,  for  this  is  my  blood  shed  for  many  for  the  remission  of 


THE   PASSOVER   TYPICAL   OF   THK   LOKd's    SUPPER.  293 

sins,"  tliey  saw  the  wine,  drank,  and  tasted  wine  only,  looking 
by  faith  upon  the  present  and  living  Redeemer,  whose  blood 
was  soon  to  be  shed  for  their  sins.  Tliey  received  the  em- 
blems of  the  broken  body  and  shed  blood  of  their  Lord,  the 
great  passover  sacrifice,  and  reposed  their  souls  by  faith  upon 
Him,  for  justification  unto  life  eternal.  The  passover  looked 
forward  to  Christ ;  the  Lord's  supper  looked  backward  to 
Him.  The  elements  used  in  these  ordinances,  in  themselves 
contain  no  eternal  life,  and  convey  no  grace  of  salvation  to  the 
soul.  Multitudes  may  partake  of  them,  ministered  by  all  and 
every  kind  of  professed  ministers  of  God,  as  multitudes  have 
done,  and  yet  perish  eternally.  And  why?  Because  they 
discern  not  through  these  emblems  the  body  of  our  Lord — the 
true  sacrifice  for  sin — and  do  not  b}'  faith  embrace  Him  as  their 
wisdom,  righteousness,  sanctification,  and  redemption,  Ps.  1. 
7-23.     But  more  of  tliis  subject  in  another  place. 

Besides  the  commemoration  of  the  deliverance  from  Egypt, 
and  of  God's  proprietorship  in  His  people,  the  passover  com- 
memorates also  the  consecration  of  the  first-born  of  man  and 
of  beast  unto  the  Lord.  Said  He  to  Moses  on  the  day  of  their 
coming  out,  "  Sanctify  unto  me  all  the  first-bom,  whatever 
openeth  the  womb  among  the  children  of  Israel,  both  of  man 
and  of  beast ;  it  is  mine."  Accordingly,  "Moses  said  unto  the 
people,  Remember  this  day  in  which  ye  came  out  of  Egypt 
out  of  the  house  of  bondage  ;  for  by  strength  of  hand  tlie  Lord 
brought  you  out  from  this  place."  "  And  it  shall  be,  when 
the  Lord  shall  bring  thee  into  the  land  of  the  Canaanites,  as 
He  sware  unto  thee,  and  to  thy  fathers,  and  shall  give  it  thee, 
that  thou  shalt  set  apart  unto  the  Lord  all  that  openeth  the 
matrix  ;  and  every  firstling  that  cometli  of  a  beast  wliich  thou 
hast,  the  males  shall  be  the  Lord's.  And  every  firstling  of  an 
ass  thou  shalt  redeem  with  a  lamb  :  and  if  thou  wilt  not  re- 
deem it,  then  thou  shalt  break  its  neck  :  and  all  the  first-born 
of  man  among  thy  children  shalt  thou  redeem,  for  the  money 
of  five  shekels  after  the  shekel  of  the  sanctuary,  Levit.  xxvii. 
1-S  ;  Kmub.  xviii.  15-18.  "  And  it  shall  be  when  thy  son 
asketh  thee  in  time  to  come,  saying,  What  is  this  ?  that  thou 
shalt  &ay  unto  him,  Bj  strength  of  hand  the  Lord  brought  us 


294  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

out  of  Egypt,  from  the  house  of  bondage.  And  it  came  to 
])ass  when  Pharaoh  would  liardly  let  us  go,  that  the  Lord  slew 
all  the  first-born  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  both  the  first-born  of 
man,  and  the  first-born  of  beast,  therefore  I  sacrifice  to  the 
Lord  all  that  openeth  the  matrix,  being  males  ;  but  all  the 
first-born  of  my  children  I  redeem.  And  it  shall  be  for  a 
token  upon  thine  hand,  and  for  frontlets  between  thine  eyes  : 
for  by  strength  of  hand  the  Lord  brought  us  forth  out  of 
Egypt,"  Exod.  xiii.  2,  11-lG. 

Some  suppose  that  from  Adam  to  the  giving  of  the  law, 
t^4^  *''^lie  first-born  in  everj  family  succeeded  to  the  office  of  priest, 
i8'v--w   as~welT  as  to  other  dignities  held  by  his  father ;  but  it  is  no- 
-^.tt-^-vVwhere  so  stated  in  the  Holy  Word,  and  the  supposition  is  in- 
^^^t^i'^^pable  of  positive  proof.     Generally  it  may  have  been  so. 
.^j^^t'   Now  that  the  visible  Church  is  organized  and  separated  from 
'^tt.^-'^he  world,  and  to  continue  so  for  many  ages,  it  pleases  God  to 
AA|vf'<alter  the  order  heretofore  pursued,  whatever  it  was,  in  relation 
Ar4j^,to  the  priesthood  ;    and  He  makes  the  deliverance  the  fitting 
\    "Cl  occasion  for  so  doing.     He  devoted  to  destruction  the  first- 
^^ii-^^orn  of  man  and  beast  among  the  Egyptians,  and  thereby 
"  delivered  His  people.     In  gratitude  for  this  deliverance,  and 

j^,,'      in  memorial  of  His  proprietorship  in  them,  He  demands  the 
•i'^^ ''consecration  on  their  part  to  Him,  for  His  special  service,  of 
^/l"-  the  first-born  of  man  and  beast  among  them.   To  what  service  is 
/|^^,.^^4  the  first-born  of  man  to  be  devoted  ?     To  the  priesthood  :    and 
\  to  what  service  the  first-born  of  beast  ?     To  sacrifice,  a  part  to 
i^V^"'^  1^g  eaten  by  the  priest,  and  a  part  by  the  off'erer.     When  the 
•^t"^     whole  order  of  the  Cliurch  was  definitely  settled  at  Sinai,  then, 
'\4h/'':     in  ordaining  a  priesthood,  he  substituted  one  entire  tribe,  that 
-f^A.     of  Levi  for  the  first-born  of  all  the  tribes.     At  this  time,  the 
^^  ,  first-born  of  all  the  tribes  were  numbered,  and  also  the  males 
■'y  of  the  tribe  of  Levi.    The  excess  was  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
three  in  favor  of  the  tribes,  and  these  were  redeemed  by  pay- 
.  -■  ■"    ing  to  the  tribe  of  Levi  five  shekels  a  piece.     This  i-edemption 
^^y<^. money  was    afterward  paid  to  Levi   for  the  first-born,  and 
\         contributed  to  the  support  of  the  priesthood.     At  the  same 
vV^^Aime  the  beasts  also  of  the  Levites  were  taken  in  the  place  of 
►^^^-^^he  first-born  of  the  beasts  of  the  other  tribes,  and,  in  being 


CONSECRATION   OF   THE   FIRST-BOKN.  295 

devoted  to  the  support  of  the  Levites,  were  sanctified  to  the 
Lord.  The  first-born  of  beasts  were  ever  afterward  offered  in 
sacrifice  to  God,  and  partly  eaten  both  by  the  priests  and  the 
ofierer,  Exod.  xxii.  29-30  ;  xxxiv.  19-20  ;  Levit.  xvii.  1-27 ; 
Numb.  iii.  1-51 ;  xviii.  15-18  ;  Deut.  iv.  19-23.  It  was  in 
obedience  to  this  "  law  of  the  Lord  "  that  the  holy  child  Jesus 
was  brought  by  His  parents  to  Jerusalem,  and  presented  to 
the  Lord,  Luke  ii.  21-39.  The  consideration  of  this  subject  is 
reserved  for  a  following  chapter,  and  we  dismiss  it  here,  with 
the  remark  suggested  by  it,  that  all  the  institutions  of  the 
Church  are  so  connected  and  interwoven  with  its  history,  that 
it  is  impossible  to  receive  any  part  of  it,  or  any  one  of  those 
institutions,  without  receiving  the  whole. 

The  dawn  of  the  morning  of  that  awful  night  found  the 
children  of  Israel  on  their  glorious  march.  "  They  departed 
from  Kameses  in  the  first  month,  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the 
first  month.  On  the  morrow  after  the  passover,  the  children 
of  Israel  went  out  with  a  high  hand  in  the  sight  of  all  the 
Egyptians."  "  Egypt  was  glad  when  they  departed,"  Ps.  cv. 
38  ;  Kumb.  xxxiii.  1-3.  Then  appeared  the  symbol  of  the 
presence  and  jjrotection  of  God,  Exod  xiv.  2-1 ;  Deut.  i.  32-33, 
marvellous  in  the  eyes  of  Egypt  and  of  Israel — even  the  pillar 
of  cloud  leading  the  way  of  the  armies  of  Israel,  Exod.  xiii. 
21-22.  It  moved  in  sublime  majesty,  and  in  the  evening 
rested  on  Succoth.  There  they  pitched  their  tents  for  the  first 
night,  and  the  cloud  changed  with  approaching  darkness  into 
a  pillar  of  fire,  giving  them  light,  Ps.  Ixxviii.  1-i ;  cv.  39  ; 
Numb.  ix.  15-23.  ''And  the  Lord  went  before  them  by  day 
in  a  pillar  of  cloud,  to  lead  them  the  way  ;  and  by  night  in  a 
pillar  of  fire,  to  give  them  light ;  to  go  by  day  and  night.  lie 
took  not  away  the  pillar  of  the  cloud  by  day,  nor  the  pillar  of 
fire  by  night,  from  before  the  people,"  Exod.  xiii.  21-22. 
When  the  tabernacle  was  reared  in  the  wilderness,  the  cloud 
took  up  its  position  over  the  tabernacle.  "  And  on  the  day 
that  the  tabernacle  was  reared  up,  the  cloud  covered  the  taber- 
nacle, namely,  the  tent  of  the  testimony  ;  "  "  and  the  glory  of 
the  Lord  filled  the  tabernacle :  and  Moses  was  not  able  to 
enter  into  the  tent  of  the  congregation,  because  the  cloud  abode 


296  THE   HISTOKT   OF  THE   CHURCH   OF    GOD. 

thereon,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  tilled  the  tabernacle,  as  it 
were  the  appearance  of  fire,  until  the  morning.  So  it  was 
always.  The  clond  covered  it  by  day,  and  the  appearance  of 
fire  by  night :  and  when  the  cloud  was  taken  up  from  the 
tabernacle,  (whether  by  day  or  by  night,)  then  after  that  the 
children  of  Israel  jom*neyed :  and  in  the  place  where  the  cloud 
abode  upon  the  tabernacle,  whether  it  were  two  days,  or  a 
month,  or  a  year,  there  the  children  of  Israel  pitched  their  tents, 
and  journeyed  not.  At  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  they 
rested  in  the  tents,  and  at  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  they 
journeyed :  they  kept  the  charge  of  the  Lord,  at  the  command- 
ment of  the  Lord  by  the  hand  of  Moses,"  Exod.  xl.  34-38  ; 
!N"umb.  ix.  15-23.  When  the  cloud  lifted  for  their  removal 
and  the  ark  of  the  covenant  set  forward,  "  Moses  said.  Rise, 
up,  Lord,  and  let  thine  enemies  be  scattered  ;  and  let  them 
that  hate  thee  flee  before  thee.  .And  when  it  rested,  he  said, 
Return,  O  Lord,  unto  the  many  thousands  of  Israel,"  ITumb. 
X.  33-36. 

The  fame  of  this  cloud  was  noised  abroad  among  the 
nations,  who  both  saw  and  heard  that  the  Lord  was  among  the 
people  ;  that  He  was  seen  face  to  face  ;  that  He  went  before 
theia  by  day  in  a  pillar  of  cloud,  and  in  a  pillar  of  fire  by 
night,  Kumb.  xiv.  14.  Although  the  people  often  rebelled 
and  sinned  grievously  against  the  Lord,  yet,  in  His  "  manifold 
mercies.  He  forsook  them  not  in  the  wilderness  ;  the  pillar  of 
cloud  departed  not  from  them  by  day  to  lead  them  in  the  way, 
neither  the  pillar  of  tire  by  night,  to  shew  them  light,  and  the 
way  wherein  they  should  go,"  Keh.  ix.  12-19  ;  Ps.  Ixxviii. 
14 ;  Deut.  i.  32-33,  until  that  day  when  their  wanderings 
ceased  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan,  and  they  passed  over  dry- 
shod  under  Joshua  into  the  promised  land. 

Moses  carried  up  the  bones  of  Joseph  in  his  "  coflin,"  as 
Joseph  had  charged  the  children  of  Israel  to  do,  Gen.  1. 
25-26  ;  Acts  vii.  15-16.  "  And  God  led  the  people  about 
through  the  way  of  the  wilderness  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  not 
through  the  way  of  the  land  of  the  Philistines,  although  that 
was  near  ;  for  God  said,  Lest  peradventure  the  people  repent 
when  they  see  war,  and  they  return  to  Egypt."     There  was 


PILLAE   OF    CLOUD   AND    OF   FIRE.  297 

also  another  end  in  view  in  this  arrangement,  which  was  the 
overthrow  of  Pharaoh  and  all  his  hosts  in  the  Red  Sea.  From 
Suceoth  they  departed  and  pitched  in  Ethan  :  and  from  Ethan 
they  turned  and  encamped  before  Pi-hahiroth  between  Migdol 
and  the  sea,  over  against  Baal-zephon.  For  the  Lord  said  to 
Moses,  when  this  is  done,  "  Pharaoh  will  say  of  tlie  children 
of  Israel,  They  are  entangled  in  the  land,  the  wilderness  hath 
shut  them  in.  And  I  will  harden  Pharaoh's  heart,  that  he 
shall  follow  after  them  :  and  I  will  be  honored  upon  Pharaol.i, 
and  upon  all  his  host ;  that  the  Egyptians  may  know  that  I 
am  the  Lord,"  Exod.  xiv.  1-4.  As  God  had  foreordained  so 
it  came  to  pass.  Pharaoh  "  pursued  after  them,  all  the  horses 
and  chariots  of  Pharaoh,  and  his  horsemen  and  his  army ;  and 
overtook  them  encamping  by  the  sea,  beside  Pi-hahiroth, 
before  Baal-zephon."  The  fear  and  distress  of  the  people  at 
this  formidable  host,  were  quieted  by  Moses.  "  Fear  ye  not, 
stand  still,  and  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord,  which  He  will 
shew  you  to-day:  for  the  Egyptians  whom  ye  have  seen  to-day, 
ye  shall  see  them  again  no  more  forever."  "  Lift  up  thy  rod, 
and  stretch  out  thine  hand  over  the  sea,"  said  God  to  Moses, 
"  and  divide  it :  and  the  children  of  Israel  shall  go  on  dry 
ground  through  the  midst  of  the  sea.  And  I,  behold,  I  will 
harden  the  hearts  of  the  Egyptians,  and  they  shall  follow 
them,  and  I  will  get  me  honor  upon  Pharaoh,  and  upon  all  his 
host,  upon  his  chariots,  and  upon  his  horsemen  ;  and  the 
Egyptians  shall  know  that  1  am  the  Lord,  when  I  have  gotten 
me  honor  upon  Pharaoh,  upon  his  chariots,  and  upon  his 
horsemen."  The  pillar  of  cloud  removed  and  stood  between 
the  Egyptians  and  the  children  of  Israel.  "  It  was  a  cloud 
and  darkness  to  them,  but  it  gave  light  by  night  to  these  :  so 
that  the  one  came  not  near  the  other  all  the  night."  Moses 
stretched  out  his  hand.  The  strong  east  wind  of  the  mighty 
God  blew,  and  the  waters  were  divided.  "  The  children  of 
Israel  went  into  the  midst  of  the  sea  upon  dry  ground  :  and 
the  waters  were  a  wall  unto  them  on  their  right  hand  and  on 
their  left."  The  pillar  of  tire  cast  its  great  light  over  the 
multitude  pressing  through  this  wondrous  vale  to  the  bright 
shores  beyond.     The  pursuing  Egyptians  went  in  after  them  ; 


298  THE   HISTOET   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

the  Lord  looked  through  the  pillar  of  fire  and  of  the  cloud, 
and  troubled  the  host :  and  took  ofi"  their  chariot  wheels,  that 
they  drave  them  heavily."  They  were  convinced  that  an 
unseen  and  irresistible  power  was  pressing  them  down,  and 
retarding  their  progress  ;  and  "  the  Egyptians  said,  Let  us  flee 
from  the  face  of  Israel ;  for  the  Lord  flghteth  for  them  against 
the  Egyptians."  Then,  at  the  command  of  God,  Moses 
stretched  forth  his  hand  over  the  sea,  and  the  sea  returned  to 
his  strength  when  the  morning  appeared,  and  the  Egyptians 
fled  against  it :  and  the  Lord  overthrew  the  Egyptians  in  the 
midst  of  the  sea.  There  remained  not  so  much  as  one  of  them. 
"The  sea  covered  them.  They  sank  as  lead  in  the  mighty 
waters,"  Exod.  xv.  10.  "  By  faith  they  passed  through  the 
Red  Sea,  which  the  Egyptians  essaying  to  do  were  drowned," 
Heb.  xi.  29.  "  Israel  saw  the  Egyptians  dead  upon  the  sea- 
shore :  and  that  great  work  which  the  Lord  did  upon  the 
Egyptians  :  and  the  people  feared  the  Lord,  and  believed  the 
Lord,  and  His  servant  Moses,"  Exod.  xiv.  1-31 ;  Ps.  cvi.  7-13. 
The  passage  of  the  Red  Sea  was  the  eleventh  and  final  miracle 
for  the  salvation  of  Israel ;  and  the  overthrow  of  Pharaoh  the 
final  blow  of  judgment  against  the  Egyptians  ! 

It  is  not  known  at  what  place  the  Lord  divided  the  Red 
Sea,  and  led  over  His  people;  because  all  accurate  traces  of 
their  encampments,  on  tlieir  march  from  Egypt  and  at  the  sea, 
are  lost.  It  is  a  matter  of  very  little  consequence,  for  all  that 
we  need  to  be  assured  of  is,  that  they  did  cross  the  sea  upon 
"  dry  ground,  and  the  vraters  were  a  wall  unto  them  on  their 
right  hand  and  on  their  left."  This  stupendous  miracle  was 
celebrated  by  triumphal  songs,  composed  by  Moses,  and  sang 
by  the  children  of  Israel  on  the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea,  to 
which  Miriam  and  the  women  responded  "  with  timbrels  and 
with  dances."  It  was  noised  abroad  in  all  lands,  and  struck 
terror  into  the  heart  of  nations  ordained  to  overthrow  by 
Israel,  Exod.  xv.  1-21 ;  Josh.  xii.  9-11.  It  is  referred  to 
frequently  in  subsequent  history  as  evidence  of  the  almighty 
power  of  God  ;  of  the  ease  and  readiness  with  which  He  can 
deliver  His  people  from  their  most  powerful  foes,  and  in  the 
most  imminent  dangers.      He  comforts  His  redeemed   with 


THE   ANGEL   OF   JEHOVAH.  299 

these  words  :  "  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  that  divided  the  sea, 
Avhose  waves  roared  :  the  Lord  of  Hosts  is  His  name,"  Isa.  li, 
11-15.  So  when  with  His  glorious  arm  He  divided  the  sea, 
"  He  made  Himself  an  everlasting  name,"  as  the  Lord  and 
Redeemer  of  His  people,  and  therefore  will  we  trust  in  Him, 
Isa.  Ixiii.  12,  comp.  Neh.  ix.  11 ;  Ps,  Ixvi.  6Q  ;  Ixxiv.  13  ;  Ixxviii. 
13  ;  cvi.  Y-10  ;  cxiv.  3-5  ;  exxxvi.  13. 

Who  led  the  Church  out  of  Egypt,  through  the  wilderness, 
in  the  pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire,  to  the  promised  land  ?  It  was 
"  the  Angel  of  God's  Presence,"  "  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant," 
"  the  Angel  Jehovah."  "  Moses  was  faithful  in  all  his  house  as  a 
servant,  but  Christ  was  as  a  son  over  His  own  house,"  Heb.  iii. 
1-6.  The  eternal  Son  has  ever  been  the  "  image  of  the 
invisible  God  "^ — the  only  revealer  of  God  in  His  vast  works 
of  creation  and  redemption,  John  i.  1-3  ;  Col.  i.  15-17 ;  Heb. 
i.  1-3  ;  Prov.  viii:  22-31 ;  Rev.  i.  19-20.  For  the  purpose  of 
the  revelation  of  God  in  the  work  of  redemption.  He  has  been 
made  head  over  all  things,  and  head  of  the  Church  to  whom 
that  revelation  is  committed.  "  ITo  man  hath  seen  God  at  any 
time  :  the  only  begotten  Son,  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Father,  He  hath  declared  Him,"  John  i.  18  ;  vi.  46  ;  xvii. 
1-26  ;  Matt,  xxviii.  18  ;  Eph.  i.  18-23  ;  iv.  15-16  ;  v.  23  ; 
Isa.  vi.  1-3  ;  ix.  6-7 ;  Col.  i.  15-19  ;  ii.  10-19  ;  Phil.  ii.  5-11 ; 
1  Pet.  iii.  22  ;  Heb.  i.  1-3.  In  the  presence  of  the  Angel  of 
the  covenant  in  the  pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire,  we  may  consider 
the  fact  that  all  the  revelations  of  God  to  His  Church  are 
made  through  and  by  Him. 

Adam  hears  the  voice  of  the  Lord  God,  which  afterwards 
"  spake  to  him,  walking  in  the  garden,"  Gen.  iii.  1-9.  What 
is  this  walking,  speaking  "  voice  "  of  God  ?  The  same  that 
"  was  in  the  beginning  with  God  " — "  the  Word  " — the  Son 
of  God,  John  i.  1-6.  Adam  and  his  posterity  received  revela- 
tions from  Him  ;  Enoch  styles  Him  "  Lord,"  and  predicts  His 
coming  to  jndge  the  world.  He  appears  after  the  flood  at 
"  the  Angel  of  Jehovah ; "  delegated,  sent  of  the  Father  for  the 
salvation  of  the  Church,  and  to  perform  all  works  necessary 
thereto  ;  He  speaks  to  Hagar  as  her  omniscient,  omnipresens 
God,  and  as  such  is  acknowledged  by  her,  Gen.  xvi.  7-13.     Ac- 


300  THE   HISTOEY   OF  THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

corapanied  by  two  angels,  He  addresses  Abraham  and  assures 
him  of  the  fulfilment  of  His  promise  of  Isaac.  To  Him  the 
thoughts  of  Sarah's  heart  were  known,  to  Him  nothing  was  too 
hard,  and  with  Him  Abraham  intercedes  for  Sodom, — the  Hear- 
er of  prayer — the  Judge  of  all  the  earth — in  "Whose  presence 
men  are  but  dust  and  ashes.  This  same  Jehovah  went  His  way 
after  communing  with  Abraham,  and  the  next  day  "  rained  upon 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  brimstone  and  fire  out  of  heaven." 
The  Father  hath  committed  all  judgment  unto  the  Son,"  Gen. 
xviii.,  xix.,  John  v.  22-27.  When  God  tempted  Abraham  to 
offer  up  Isaac,  and  he  was  about  to  do  it,  this  same  "  Angel 
of  Jehovah "  called  unto  him  out  of  heaven,  "  Abraham ! 
Abraham  !  Lay  not  thine  hand  upon  the  lad,  for  now  I  know 
that  thou  fearest  God  :  seeing  thou  hast  not  withheld  thy  son, 
thine  only  son  from  me."  Kenewing  His  promise  which  He 
had  made  to  Abraham,  because -He  could  swear  by  no  greater. 
He  sware  by  Himself,  "  And  said.  By  myself  have  I  sworn, 
that  in  blessing  I  will  bless  thee,  etc."  Abraham  called  the 
name  of  the  place  Jehovah-jireh  ;  he  had  a  vision  of  God,  and 
it  was  of  the  Angel  of  Jehovah.  "  And  tliere  wrestled  a  man 
with  Jacob  (at  the  ford  of  Jabbok),  until  the  breaking  of  the 
day.  And  he  said.  Let  me  go,  for  the  day  breaketh.  And  he 
said,  I  will  not  let  thee  go,  except  thou  bless  me."  He  did 
bless  Jacob,  and  changed  his  name  to  Israel,  for,  said  He,  "  as 
a  prince  hast  thou  power  with  God  and  with  men,  and  hast 
prevailed."  Jacob  called  the  place,  "  Peniel,"  that  is,  "  the 
face  of  God  ;  "  "  for,  said  he,  "  I  have  seen  God  face  to  face," 
Gen.  xxxii.  24-32.  The  Prophet  Ilosea,  xii.  1-5,  writing  of 
this  occurrence  in  Israel's  life,  says,  "  He  had  power  over  the 
Angel  and  prevailed  ;  he  wept  and  made  supplication  unto 
him."  The  same  Angel  "  found  Jacob  in  Bethel,"  and  the 
Lord,  standing  above  the  ladder  that  reached  from  earth  to 
heaven,  proclaimed  Himself  to  Jacob  the  Lord  God  of  his 
fathers,  Abraham  and  Isaac,  renewing  to  him  the  promises  He 
had  made  to  them.  Jacob  awoke  and  vowed  to  take  this  God 
to  be  his  God,  Gen.  xxviii.  10-22.  Hosea  affirms  that  He  is 
"  even  the  Lord  God  of  Hosts ;  the  Lord  is  his  memorial," 
Gen.  XXXV.  1-15.   Jacob  many  years  after  refers  to  this  vision 


VISION   OF    MOSES   IN   HOEEB.  301 

wlien  blessing  the  sons  of  Joseph,  Gen.  xlviii.  15-16.  "  And  lie 
blessed  Joseph,  and  said,  God,  before  whom  my  Fathers 
Abraham  and  Isaac  did  walk,  the  God  which  fed  me  all  my 
life  long  until  this  day — the  Angel  which  redeemed  me  from 
all  evil — bless  the  lads,  etc."  The  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob  is  the  Angel  Jehovah,  from  and  through  whom  they 
received  their  revelations. 

Following  the  course  of  Scripture,  next  comes  the  vision  of 
Moses  in  Horeb.  "  The  angel  of  the  Lord  (Jehovah),  appeared 
unto  him  in  a  flame  of  fire  out  of  the  midst  of  a  bush,  (Exod. 
iii.  1-22,)  and  He  said,  I  am  the  God  of  thy  Father,  the  God  of 
Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob.  And 
Moses  hid  his  face,  for  he  was  afraid  to  look  upon  God."  He 
announced  to  Moses  that  He  had  come  down  to  deliver  His 
people  out  of  Egypt,  by  his  hand.  Moses  answered,  "  When 
the  children  of  Israel  shall  ask  me  thy  name,  what  shall  I  say 
unto  them  ?  And  God  said  unto  Moses,  I  am  that  I  am.  Say 
unto  the  children  of  Israel,  I  AM  hath  sent  me  unto  you." 
Years  after,  Moses  designates  the  God  of  Israel  by  the  title  of 
"  Him  that  dwelt  in  the  bush  ;  "  and  invokes  His  blessing  on 
Joseph,  Deut.  xxxiii.  13-16  ;  Acts  vii.  30-38.  This  Angel  of 
Jehovah  is  sent  by  the  Lord,  Exod.  xxiii.  20-23  :  "  Behold," 
(saith  the  Lord  God  to  the  children  of  Israel  in  the  wilder- 
ness), "  I  send  an  Angel  before  thee  to  keep  thee  in  the  way, 
and  to  bring  thee  into  the  place  that  I  have  prepared. 
Beware  of  Him  and  obey  His  voice,  provoke  Him  not,  for  He 
will  not  pardon  your  transgressions  ;  for  My  name  is  in  Him. 
But  if  thou  shalt  indeed  obey  His  voice,  and  do  all  I  speak, 
then  I  will  be  an  enemy  unto  thine  enemies,  and  an  adversary 
unto  thine  adversaries  ;  for  mine  Angel  shall  go  before  thee, 
and  bring  thee  in  unto  the  Amorites,  and  the  Hittites,  and  the 
Perizzites,  and  the  Canaanites,  and  the  Hivites,  and  the  Jebu- 
sites  :  and  I  will  cut  them  off."  Sent  of  God  to  lead,  defend, 
and  bring  the  people  to  the  promised  land,  God's  name, 
nature,  and  authority  were  in  Him ;  and  therefore  were  they 
to  receive  His  revelations,  and  fear  His  wrath,  for  He  could 
by  no  means  clear  the  guilty.  Col.  ii.  9  ;  John  v.  19,  23  ;  x. 
30-38  ;  xiv.  10  ;  xvii.  21. 


302  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

After  the  sin  of  worsliipping  the  golden  calf,  Exod.  xxxii. 
30-35,  the  Lord  commanded  Moses  to  cany  up  the  people, 
and  promised,  "  Mine  angel  shall  go  before  thee  ;  "  and  again, 
Exod.  xxxiii.  1-3,  "  I  will  send  an  angel  before  thee,  and  I 
will  drive  out  the  Canaanites,  etc.,  for  I  will  not  go  up  in  the 
midst  of  thee,  for  thou  art  a  stiff-necked  people,  lest  I  consume 
thee  in  the  way."  This  promised  angel  is  a  created  angel  and 
not  the  Angel  Jehovah,  Exod  xxiii.  20-23  ;  for,  when  the  Angel 
Jehovah  went  with  them,  God  went  with  them,  and  all  was 
well.  But  now  God  refuses  to  go  with  them ;  the  angel  of 
His  presence  being  withdrawn,  they  are  to  be  put  under  the 
conduct  of  another,  in  whom  the  name  of  God  is  not.  The 
camp  of  Israel  and  Moses  were  thrown  into  distress  ;  the 
people  humbled  themselves,  Moses  prayed,  the  Lord  was 
entreated,  and  He  said,  "  My  presence  shall  go  with  thee,  and 
I  will  give  thee  rest."  Moses  answered,  "  If  thy  presence  go 
not  with  me,  carry  us  not  up  hence."  Peace  was  restored,  the 
Angel  of  God's  presence  resumed  His  appointed  place — "  the 
radiance  of  His  glory  and  the  express  image  of  His  person" — 
becoming  again  the  leader  and  commander  of  the  people, 
comp.  Isa.  Ixiii.  8-9.  "  For  He  said,  surely  they  are  my  peo- 
ple, so  he  was  their  Saviour." 

The  Angel  of  Jehovah  continued  His  revelation  of  God 
through  His  servant  Moses,  at  Sinai,  in  the  wilderness,  and  to 
the  borders  of  tlie  promised  land ;  through  Joshua  and  his 
successors,  the  Judges  ;  through  Samuel  and  all  the  Prophets, 
"  holy  men  of  God,  who  spake  as  they  wxre  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,"  until  the  close  of  the  Old  Testament ;  then  He 
ceased  for  four  hundred  years,  and  becoming  incarnate  He 
continued,  and,  after  His  ascension,  completed,  through  His 
Apostles,  the  Word  of  God,  henceforth  neither  to  be  added 
unto  nor  taken  from.  To  pretend  to  new  revelations  is  to  deny 
the  completeness  and  sufficiency  of  Scripture,  and  to  be  guilty 
of  great  sin  against  the  Head  of  the  Church. 

Triumphantly  crossing  the  Ked  Sea,  the  children  of  Israel 
went  three  days'  journey  into  the  wilderness  of  Etham,  and 
encamped  in  Marah,  so  called  from  the  bitterness  of  the 
waters,  which  were  miraculously  sweetened.     Here  the  Lord 


JOURNEYS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.  303 

entered  into  a  covenant  with  Israel  to  afflict  them  with  none 
of  the  diseases  with  which  He  had  afflicted  the  Egyptians,  on 
condition  that  tliey  would  diligently  and  heartily  obey  His 
commandments  and  statutes.  Kemoving  from  Marali  they 
encamped  in  Elim ;  then,  by  the  Red  Sea ;  then,  in  the 
wilderness  of  Sin,  Exod.  xv.  22-27 ;  Numb,  xxxiii.  1-11, 
between  Elim  and  Sinai,  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  second 
month,  precisely  one  month  after  leaving  Egypt. 

The  supplies  brought  out  of  Egypt  failed ;  famine  stared  the 
people  in  the  face,  and  they  murnmred.  In  the  evening,  quails 
miraculously  came  and  covered  the  camp ;  and  in  the  morn- 
ing, "  when  the  dew  was  gone  up,  behold,  upon  the  face  of  the 
wilderness  there  lay  a  small  round  thing,  as  small  as  the  hoar- 
frost on  the  ground,"  like  coriander  seed,  in  color  as  bdellium, 
and  the  taste  like  wafers  made  with  honey ;  but,  when  ground 
in  mills,  or  beaten  in  a  mortar,  and  baked  as  cakes  in  a  pan, 
"  the  taste  was  as  the  taste  of  fresh  oil,"  Numb.  xi.  1-9. 
When  the  children  of  Israel  saw  it,  in  their  surprise  they  said 
to  one  another,  "  Man  hoo  ?  "  that  is,  "  What  is  this,"  or 
"  What  is  it  ?  "  for  they  knew  not  what  it  was.  "  Moses  said, 
This  is  the  bread  which  the  Lord  hath  given  you  to  eat ;  "  and 
they  called  it,  in  memory  of  their  exclamation  on  first  seeing 
it  "  Man  :  "  our  version  writes  it  "  Manna."  It  fell  abun- 
dantly, was  gathered  and  distributed  (an  omer  to  a  man),  morn- 
ing by  morning,  save  that  on  the  sixth  day  the  food  of 
two  days  was  gathered,  as  none  fell  for  the  sabbath  ;  on  that 
day  they  rested,  according  to  the  commandment.  What 
remained  after  all  were  supplied,  melted  as  the  sun  waxed 
warm.  An  omer  of  it  was  afterwards  laid  up  in  the  ark, 
which  kept  pure,  for  a  memorial  to  all  generations  of  the 
power  and  mercy  of  God.  If  kept  over  for  the  following  day, 
except  for  the  Sabbath,  "  it  stank  and  bred  worms."  It  fell 
for  forty  years,  and  for  a  short  time  after  Israel  had  crossed 
the  Jordan  and  pitched  in  Gilgal.  There  Joshua  circumcised 
all  who  had  not  been  circumcised  in  the  way  and  kept  the 
passover.  On  the  morrow  after  the  passover  they  ate  the  old 
corn  of  the  land,  and  on  that  day,  there  being  no  longer  any 
need  of  it,  the  manna  ceased.     "  Neither  had  the  children  of 


304  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

Israel  manna  any  more,  but  they  did  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the 
land  of  Canaan  that  year,"  Exod.  xvi.  1-36  ;  Josh.  v.  1-12. 

The  manna  was  a  miracle — the  immediate  creation  of  God 
— never  before  seen  by  the  Israelites  nor  by  their  fathers,  as 
Moses  tells  them,  Deut.  viii.  3-16.  It  has  never  been  seen 
since.  The  Apostle  calls  it  "  Si3iritual,"  that  is  supernatural 
"meat,"  1  Cor.  x.  3;  and  the  Psalmist  says,  "man  did  eat 
angels'  food,"  or  the  food  of  the  mighty,  that  fit  for  princes, 
and  the  great  ones  of  the  earth,  Ps.  Ixxviii.  24—25.  It  was 
also  typical  of  Christ  Jesus,  the  true  bread  which  came 
down  from  heaven.  Saith  He,  "  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Moses 
gave  you  not  that  bread  from  heaven,  but  my  Father  giveth 
you  the  time  bread  from  heaven,  for  the  bread  of  God  is  He 
which  cometh  down  from  heaven,  and  giveth  life  unto  the 
world.  I  am  the  bread  of  life  which  came  down  from  heaven  : 
if  any  man  eat  of  this  bread,,  he  shall  live  forever,  and  the 
bread  that  I  will  give  is  my  flesh,  which  I  will  give  for  the 
life  of  tlie  world."  We  feed  daily  by  faith  upon  the  Son  of 
God,  and  have  in  Him  eternal  life,  and  "  He  will  raise  us  up 
at  the  last  day,"  John.  vi.  30-56  ;  Rev.  ii.  17. 

The  people  removed  from  the  wilderness  of  Sin  to  Daph- 
kah,  to  Alush,  and  to  Kephidim,  where  they  tempted  God  by 
murmuring  for  water,  and  rebuked  Moses  :  for  the  one  offence 
he  called  the  place  "  Massah  "  (temptation) ;  and  for  the  other, 
"  Meribah  "  (chiding).  By  God's  command,  and  with  His  rod, 
he  smote  the  rock  in  Horeb,  some  distance  from  Kephidim, 
and  supplied  the  people  with  drink.  From  the  remark  of  the 
Apostle  Paul,  (1  Cor.  x.  4,  "  And  did  all  drink  the  same 
spiritual  drink,"  that  is,  water  supernaturally  supplied  ;  "  for 
they  drank  of  that  spiritual  rock  that  followed  them,  and  that 
rock  was  Christ,")  it  is  not  to  be  understood  that  the  rock  in 
Horeb  followed  them  to  supply  them  with  water  in  their 
journeys,  but  that  Christ  was  the  rock  that  followed  them. 
He  was  the  true  source  and  fountain  of  their  salvation — the 
living  water  that  supplied  them — and  so  the  rock  in  Horeb 
was  typical  of  Christ. 

In  Eephidim,  Amalek  attacked  the  hindmost  of  Israel,  the 
feeble,  faint,  and   weary,  but  was  discomfited  in  the   vale, 


JETHEO'S  ADVICE.  305 

while  Moses,  praying  to  God,  stood  on  tlie  hill  in  the  siglit  of 
the  finny,  and  Aaron  and  Hnr  held  np  his  hands.  Moses 
commemorated  the  victory  by  building  an  altar  and  calling  it 
Jehovah-nissi  (the  Lord  my  banner).  For  this  cruel  conduct 
the  Lord  doomed  Amalek  to  utter  destruction,  which  was 
accomplished  through  Saul  and  David,  and  finally  through 
Hezekiah,  Exod.  xvii.  1-16  ;  Deut.  xxv.  17-19  ;  Numb.  xxiv. 
20  ;  1  Sam.  xv.  1-35  ;  xxvii.  1-12  ;  xxx.  1-20  ;  1  Chron.  iv. 
4-43. 

Departing  from  Rephidim,  the  children  of  Israel  came 
in  the  third  month  from  Egypt  into  the  wilderness  of  Sinai, 
and  encamped  before  the  mount  of  God,  Exod.  xix.  1-2  ; 
Numb,  xxxiii.  15,  where  the  Lord  had  appeared  to  Moses  in 
the  burning  bush,  and  said  unto  him,  "  Certainly  I  will  be 
with  thee,  and  this  shall  be  a  token  unto  thee,  that  I  have  sent 
thee  :  when  thou  hast  brought  forth  the  people  out  of  Egypt, 
ye  shall  serve  God  upon  this  mountain,"  Exod.  iii.  1-12. 
Before  that  mountain,  Horeb,  in  the  range  of  the  mountains 
of  Sinai,  he  was  encamped  with  the  people,  and  there  they 
worshipped  God. 

Moses  was  not  far  from  the  home  of  his  father-in-law,  whose 
flocks  he  formerly  fed  on  this  mountain  ;  and  to  whom  he  had 
returned  his  wife  and  children  after  he  had  taken  them  at  first 
down  to  Egypt,  Exod.  iv.  18-26.  Jethro,  hearing  of  the 
■\ronderful  deliverance  and  the  safe  arrival  of  the  people  at 
Horeb,  came  to  see  Moses,  and  brought  to  him  liis  wife 
Zipporah  and  his  two  sons,  Gershom  and  Eliezer. 

Jethro  blessed  God  for  His  goodness  to  Israel,  and  Moses 
and  the  elders  united  with  him  in  burnt  ofi'erings  and  sacri- 
fices, and  in  eating  bread,  for  he  was  a  priest  of  God  himself, 
and  one  of  the  last  mentioned  of  the  sacred  order  which 
remained  without  the  body  of  God's  chosen  people.  The 
whole  conduct  and  government  of  the  people,  under  their 
present  peculiar  circumstances,  fell  on  Moses.  He  styles 
himself,  "  King  in  Jesliurun,"  Deut.  xxxiii.  4-5,  and  he  sat 
upon  his  judgment-seat  from  morning  to  evening.  Jethro, 
observing  his  exhausting  labors  said,  "  The  thing  that  thou 
doest  is  not  good.  Thou  wilt  surely  wear  away,  both  thou, 
20 


306  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHTECH   OF   GOD. 

and  this  people  that  is  witli  thee  :  for  this  thing  is  too  heavy 
for  thee ;  thou  art  not  able  to  perform  it  thyself  alone. 
Hearken  now  unto  my  voice,  I  will  give  thee  counsel,  and 
God  shall  be  with  thee.  Be  thou  for  the  people  to  God-ward, 
that  thou  mayest  bring  the  causes  unto  God  :  and  thou  shalt 
teach  them  ordinances  and  laws,  and  shalt  shew  them  the  way 
wherein  they  must  walk,  and  the  work  they  must  do.  More- 
over, thou  shalt  provide  out  of  all  the  people  able  men,  such 
as  fear  God,  men  of  truth,  hating  covetousness,  and  place  such 
over  them  to  be  rulers  of  thousands,  and  rulers  of  hundreds, 
rulers  of  fifties,  and  rulers  of  tens :  and  let  them  judge  the 
people  at  all  seasons  :  and  it  shall  be,  that  every  great  matter 
they  shall  bring  unto  thee,  but  every  small  matter  they  shall 
judge :  BO  it  shall  be  easier  for  thyself,  and  they  shall  bear 
the  burden  with  thee.  If  thou  shalt  do  this  thing,  and  God 
command  thee  so,  then  thou  shalt  be  able  to  endure,  and  all 
this  people  shall  also  go  to  their  place  in  peace."  This 
judicious  advice  was  followed  by  Moses,  and  he  "  let  his 
tather-in-law  depart,  and  he  went  his  way  unto  his  own  land," 
Exod.  xviii.  1-27. 


THE   LAW   THROUGH   MOSES   AKKA]^GED.  307 


CHAPTER   XX. 

LAW  GIVEK  TO  THE  CHTRCH  THROrGH  MOSES  ARRANGED, — DIVIDED  INTO 
THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  AND  CIVIL  LAW. — THE  ECCLESIASTICAL,  INTO 
THE  MORAL,  CEREMONIAL,  CONSTITUTIONAL,  AND  DISCIPLINART,  FOR 
MORE  SATISFACTORY  CONCEPTION.  —  THE  CIVIL  LAW:  EMBRACING 
FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT — A  THEOCRACY. — THE  PEOPLE  ;  OFFICERS,  EX- 
TRAORDINARY AND  ORDINARY. — THE  GREAT  REPRESENTATFVE  COUN- 
CIL, THE  SEVENTY. — PENALTIES  AND  REWARDS. — A  COMMONWEALTH 
COMPOSED  OP  STATES. — SABBATICAL  YEAR,  AND  TEAR  OP  JUBILEE. — 
NO  LAWGIVER  TO  BE   COMPARED  WITH  MOSES. 

We  Lave  now  "  come  iinto  tlie  moimt  that  might  be 
touched,  and  that  burned  with  fire,  and  unto  blackness,  and 
darkness,  and  tempest,  and  the  sound  of  a  trumpet,  and  the 
voice  of  words,"  Heb.  xii.  18-19,  and  shall  attcmj)t  such  an 
arrangement  of  the  law  given  to  the  Church  by  Moses,  as  shall 
exhibit  it  to  be  what  it  really  is — a  most  harmonious  and 
glorious  development  and  confirmation  of  the  covenant  of 
grace. 

First :  the  law  was  given  by  the  Great  Head  of  the 
Church,  the  source  of  all  the  revelations  of  God.  It  was  He 
who  spake  to  IMoses  in  the  mount,  whose  advent  was  announced 
with  thunderings  and  lightnings,  whose  pavilion  was  thick 
darkness  and  clouds,  and  at  whose  touch  the  whole  monnt 
quaked  and  burned  with  fire.  The  smoke  thereof  ascended  as 
the  smoke  of  a  furnace,  Exod.  xx.  1-2,  18  ;  Isa.  vi.  1-4 ;  Heb. 
iii.  1-6  ;  John  xii.  41 ;  Eev.  xv.  8.  Part  of  the  law  was  de- 
livered from  the  mount,  and  part  afterwards  from  the  taber- 
nacle.    Second  :   The  law  was  given  by  the  hands  of  a  media- 


SOS  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

tor,  wlio  was  Moses,  "  with  whom  God  spake  face  to  face  as  a 
man  speaketh  with  his  friend,"  and  upon  whose  countenance 
He  impressed  somewhat  of  the  eflulgence  of  His  own  glory. 
Acts  vii.  35-40  ;  Gal  iii.  19  ;  Ex.  xxxiv.  29-35.  Third  :  hy 
the  ministrations  of  angels,  (whatever  that  ministration  was,) 
by  speech,  by  the  voice  of  the  trumpet,  through  the  lightnings 
and  thunder,  the  fire  and  earthquake,  the  cloud  and  the  thick 
darkness,  Deut.  xxxiii.  2  ;  Ps.  Ixviii.  lY ;  Acts  vii.  53  ;  Gal. 
iii.  19  ;  Heb.  ii.  2 ;  comp.  Ex.  xxiv.  1-10  ;  Ezek.  i.  1-27. 
Fourth  :  the  law  given  includes  the  five  books  of  Moses,  (Gen- 
esis, Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers,  and  Deuteronomy,)  and  all 
that  they  contain.  Fiftli :  it  was  given  to  the  Church  as  it 
then  existed,  and  for  centuries  after,  a  civil  as  well  as  a  re- 
ligious body. 

The  law  therefore  admits  of  two  grand  divisions  :  the  eccle- 
siastical, relating  to  the  Church-;  and  the  civil,  relating  to  the 
Church  as  a  commonwealth,  or  state ;  the  latter  incidental, 
but  not  essential  to  the  being  of  the  Church — temporary,  and 
in  the  hour  appointed  to  pass  away. 

The  ecclesia'stical  and  civil  laws  were  necessarily  much  in- 
terwoven in  their  administration,  some  offences  being  levelled 
against  both  Church  and  state.  For  example  :  idolatry,  which 
was  an  open  denial  of  God,  and  resulted  in  excommunication 
from  the  Church,  was  also  treason  against  the  king,  and  re- 
sulted in  death  by  the  state.  So  all  violations  of  the  moral 
law,  whether  against  God  or  man,  which  were  cognizable  by 
the  state,  involved  also  the  church  standing  of  the  transgress- 
or, and  he  must  needs  be  excommunicated,  or  oft'er  sacrifices 
for  his  cleansing  and  reconciliation.  If  a  man  denied  a  trust 
to  liis  neighbor's  injury,  or  defrauded  a  partner,  or  embezzled 
a  lost  article,  he  was  indictable  under  the  civil  law,  and 
chargeable  also  with  guilt  under  the  ecclesiastical  law  ;  he  was 
commanded  to  bring  his  tresj^ass-oft'ering  unto  the  Lord,  tlie 
priest  should  make  atonement  for  him  before  the  Lord,  and  his 
sins  be  forgiven  him,  Levit.  vi.  1-7,  etc.  The  same  principle 
obtains  now  in  the  discipline  of  the  Church.  Her  members 
arc  required  to  discharge  in  a  blameless  manner  their  duties  to 
the  state,  and  when  they  fail  to  do  so,  their  good  standing  is 


THE   ECCLESIASTICAL   LAW.  309 

forfeited  in  both  Cliurcli  and  state,  and  they  mnst  needs  be 
reconciled  to  one  and  the  other.  This  inweaving  of  the  eccle- 
siastical and  civil  law,  demonstrates  that  the  children  of  Israel 
were  the  Chnrch  of  God.  The  more  perfect  the  member  of 
the  Church,  the  more  perfect  the  citizen  of  the  state,  and  vice 
versa. 

The  ecclesiastical  law,  the  first  in  order,  may  be  cast  into 
four  divisions  :  the  moral,  the  ceremonial,  the  constitutional, 
and  the  disciplinary  law. 

1.  The  moral  law  is  summarily  comprehended  in  the  ten 
commandments,  delivered  amidst  awful  displays  of  divine  maj- 
esty and  glory.  It  was  originally,  under  the  covenant  of 
works,  both  the  rule  of  man's  duty  and  of  his  justification  ; 
but  under  the  covenant  of  grace,  the  rule  of  his  duty  only — 
divided  by  our  Lord  into  two  commandments  :  tlie  first  includ- 
ing the  first  four,  and  covering  our  duty  to  God  ;  and  the  sec- 
ond, the  remaining  six,  covering  our  duty  to  man — familiarly 
styled,  "  the  first  and  second  tables  of  the  law."  "  On  these 
two  commandments,"  saith  our  Lord,  "  hang  all  the  law  and 
the  prophets ;  "  that  is,  all  the  duties  required  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures  towards  God  and  man,  are  embraced  in  the  ten 
commandments,  which  are  given  in  a  negative  form,  the  sin 
forbidden  including  all  of  its  kind,  and  the  opposite  duty  im- 
plied, including  all  of  its  kind.  Infinite  wisdom  compressed 
in  these  "  ten  words,"  which  may  be  taught  to  a  little  child, 
the  religion  and  morality  of  the  universe.  Matt.  xxii.  36-40. 
It  was  not  more  the  awful  displays  of  divine  majesty  at  the 
delivery  of  this  law,  than  the  conviction  of  sin,  and  of  deserved 
wrath,  that  made  the  people  tremble  and  remove  afar  off". 

2.  The  ceremonial  law  embraced  in  its  number,  variety, 
and  minuteness,  all  the  ordinances  and  ceremonies  to  be  ob- 
served in  the  public  and  j)rivate  worship  and  service  of  God. 
It  was  significant  of  essential  truths  and  duties ;  of  pecu- 
liar moral  impression  and  benefit,  of  which  the  true  member 
of  the  Church  was  fully  aware  in  his  observation  of  them  : 
"  A  shadow  of  good  things  to  come."  The  ceremonial  law 
acknowledged  the  existence  of  the  one  only  living  and  true 
God,  the  Redeemer  of  Israel,  in  contradistinction  to  all  false 


310  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

deities,  and  in  His  infinite  lioliness,  justice,  mercy,  and  faithful- 
ness, the  only  proper  object  of  religions  worship  ;  and  it  pre- 
scribed the  manner  of  that  worship.  It  tanght  man's  utter  ruin 
and  dependence  as  a  sinner  ;  the  necessity  of  an  atonement,  in 
order  to  his  reconciliation  with,  and  justification  before  God, 
and  the  necessity  also  of  his  sanctification,  that  he  miglit  be 
meet  for  God's  glory  and  service. 

The  great  central  truth  around  which  the  whole  ceremonial 
law  revolved,  and  which  it  was  designed  to  establish  and  illus- 
trate in  every  possible  and  practical  form,  was,  "  that  with- 
out shedding  of  blood  is  no  remission,"  Heb.  ix.  22  ;  in  other 
words,  Christ  and  Him  crucified,  made  of  God  unto  the  sinner 
"  wisdom,  righteousness,  sanctification,  and  redemption," 
1  Cor.  i.  30.  God  could  be  approached,  worshipped,  and 
propitiated  only  by  sacrifice.  The  sacrifices  were  in  them- 
selves wholly  inefilcacious  to  take  away  sin  by  any  satisfaction 
which  they  could  render  to  divine  justice  :  "  for  it  is  not  pos- 
sible that  the  blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats  should  take  away 
sins,"  Heb.  x.  4.  Such  sacrifices  could  only  sanctify  to  the 
purifying  of  the  flesh ;  to  the  rendering  acceptable  an  out- 
ward act  of  service  which  preserved  the  worshipper  in  good 
and  regular  standing  in  the  Church,  but  nothing  more,  Heb. 
ix.  13,  etc.  Beyond  this  the  God  of  Israel  never  designed  that 
sacrifices  should  go.  Their  eflScacy  and  value  consisted  not  in 
their  being  in  themselves  real  and  acceptable  sacrifices  for  sin, 
but  in  being  types  of  the  one  great  sacrifice  upon  which  the 
faith  of  the  worshipper  fixed  itself — even  the  "  Lamb  of  God 
slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world."  They  all  illustrated, 
pointed  to,  and  centred  in  this  sacrifice,  which  was  to  be  once 
ofi'ered  in  the  end  of  the  Avorld,  forever  taking  away  sin,  and 
bringing  in  everlasting  righteousness  to  the  believer. 

Hence,  the  ceremonial  law  holds  in  its  bosom  the  Gospel. 
In  and  by  this  law,  Christ  Jesus  was  revealed  and  preached. 
It  is  here  especially  that  we  see  Moses  writing  of  Christ,  speak- 
ing of  Christ,  and  preaching  Cln-ist,  proclaiming  the  glad 
tidings  of  salvation  more  fully  indeed,  but  not  more  really, 
than  they  had  been  from  the  day  of  the  fall. 

This  law  defined  the  form,  dimensions,  material,  and  con- 


THE    ECCLESIASTICAL   LAW.  311 

strnction  of  the  tabernacle,  (and  afterwards  of  the  temple  of 
Solomon,  which  came  in  its  place,)  its  furniture,  walls,  gates, 
and  courts,  the  manner  of  its  consecration,  preservation,  and 
purity.  It  determined  the  order  and  service  of  those  who 
should  minister  within  and  before  this  sanctuary,  their  family 
stock,  their  unblemished  persons,  their  various  vestments,  the 
precious  stones  to  be  worn,  their  purifications,  and  their  por- 
tions. It  determined  the  form,  the  materials,  and  structure  of  the 
altars,  their  ascent,  their  fire,  their  purification  and  sanctity,  and 
the  difi*erent  kinds  of  service  vessels ;  the  nature  and  number  of 
the  sacred  times  and  seasons,  and  also  of  the  sacrifices,  the  sin- 
ofi\3rings,  the  trespass-ofi'erings,  burnt-offerings,  peace  or  thank- 
offerings,  meat-off'erings,  and  the  rites  and  ceremonies  peculiar 
to  each ;  the  kind  of  animals  to  be  sacrificed,  their  age  and  con- 
dition, the  clean  and  the  unclean,  and  offerings  of  every  sort. 
It  determined  also  who  were  the  true  worshippers  ;  what  con- 
stituted ceremonial  cleanness  and  uncleanness  ;  for  how  long 
a  time,  and  in  what  manner,  and  for  what,  purifications  should 
be  made  ;  how  the  priests  should  sacrifice  ;  where,  and  how 
frequently  ;  and  in  what  parts  of  the  courts  of  the  tabernacle 
and  temple  they  and  the  people  should  worship,  and  what 
things  would  exclude  them  from  these  holy  precincts,  or  even 
excommunicate  them  altogether.  The  law  reached  not  only 
to  every  thing  connected  with  the  immediate  worship  and 
service  of  God  at  the  tabernacle  and  temple,  but  it  had  control 
over  the  people  in  many  other  things,  which  Avere  all  designed 
to  impress  them  with  the  purity  and  holiness  of  God,  the  ne- 
cessity for  their  own  constant  purity  and  holiness :  and  of  their 
separation  from  all  other  nations  as  the  peculiar  people  of  the 
Lord.  The  ceremonial  law  regulated  the  food,  in  respect  to 
clean  and  unclean  ;  the  dress,  in  respect  to  kind  and  composi- 
tion ;  the  planting  of  seeds  ;  the  ploughing  of  the  ground  ;  the 
gathering  of  the  harvest  and  vintage  ;  the  marriage  relation  ; 
the  ceremonies  and  purifications  attendant  upon  births  and 
deaths,  and  the  intercourse  to  be  had  with  the  heathen  world. 
Precepts  of  the  ceremonial  law  which  appear  singular  and  in- 
explicable at  first  sight,  upon  due  consideration  are  discerned 
to  be  wisely  and  usefully  framed,  for  the  purpose  of  preserving 


312  THE    HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

tlie  people  from  dangerous  and  idolatrous  practices,  and  of 
keeping  them  distinct  from  the  world.  The  Israelite  who  con- 
scientiously observed  the  ceremonial  law,  experienced  the 
peace  and  comfort  of  the  salvation  provided  for  him  in  the 
coming  Kedoemer  ;  he  was  constantly  reminded  of  his  conse- 
cration to  God,  of  the  necessity  for  watchfulness  and  prayer,  of 
constant  warfare  against  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil, 
and  of  the  vanity  of  all  forms  unaccompanied  by  the  spirit  of 
God. 

3.  The  constitutional  law  respects  the  organization  and 
order  of  the  Church :  the  ofiicers,  members,  places,  times, 
seasons,  and  modes  of  worship. 

Prior  to  the  time  of  Moses,  the  officers  were  patriarchs,  who 
were  priests  in  fact,  priests  of  an  established  order,  and 
prophets,  who  were  also  preachers  of  righteousness,  chosen  of 
God  from  no  particular  tribe  or  nation.  Under  Moses,  the 
patriarchs  disappear,  and  the  officers  of  the  Church  are  both 
extraordinary  and  ordinary  :  the  extraordinary  being  prophets, 
and  chosen  by  the  Lord  indiscriminately  from  any  one  of  the 
tribes  of  Israel.     The  ordinary  were  : 

First :  priests,  no  longer  chosen  indiscriminately  from  any 
nation,  but  now  confined  to  one  nation,  to  but  one  tribe  of  that 
nation,  to  but  one  family  of  that  tribe,  and  to  but  one  house 
(jf  that  family  :  the  nation,  Israel ;  the  tribe,  Levi ;  the  family, 
Kohath  ;  the  house,  Amram,  Ex.  vi.  14-2Y. 

The  high-priest,  who  presided  over  the  whole  Church,  and 
who  alone  was  permitted  to  enter  into  the  Holy  of  Holies  once 
a  year,  to  carry  to  the  mercy-seat  the  blood  of  atonement,  was 
Aaron,  the  first-born  of  Amram  ;  and  ever  after  the  first-born 
in  succession  from  Aaron.  In  case  of  the  death  of  the  first- 
born, the  high-priesthood  fell  to  the  next  oldest  son  in  the 
family  in  the  direct  line  of  descent,  1  Chron.  xxiv.  2.  The 
rest  of  the  sons  of  Aaron  were  priests.  Moses,  by  the  call  of 
God,  was  both  priest  and  prophet,  but  his  sons,  not  being  of 
the  family  of  Aaron,  were  Levites  only. 

Tlie  functions  of  the  ordinary  priests  in  every  particular 
might  be  performed  by  the  high-priest,  but  the  functions  pecu- 
liar to  his  office  no  one  but  himself  could  perform.     The  gi*eat- 


THE    ECCLESIASTICAL   LAW.  313 

er  contained  the  less,  but  tlic  less  did  not  contain  tlie  greater. 
It  Avas  the  high-priest,  in  his  office  and  functions,  who  was  the 
special  and  illustrious  type  of  the  great  High-Priest,  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God. 

This  order  of  the  priesthood,  serving  in  the  shadow  of  good 
things  to  come,  continued  in  the  Church  without  any  change, 
(save  immaterial  changes  relating  to  the  manner  of  service,  in- 
troduced by  David,)  until  Shiloh  came,  1  Chron.  xxiv.  1-31 ; 
2  Chron.  xxiii.  1-8  ;  Ezra  ii.  36-39  ;  N'eh.  vii.  39-42  ;  Luke 
i.  5.  It  then  found  its  fulfillment  in  Christ,  the  substance, 
and  expired  by  the  statute  of  its  own  limitation. 

Second  :  the  Levites,  inferior  to  the  priests,  who  embraced 
all  the  other  descendants  of  Levi  by  his  sons  Gershom  and 
Merari,  and  the  sons  of  Moses  who  were  of  the  stock  of  Kohath. 
The  priests  might  perform  the  duties  of  the  Levites,  but  the 
Levites  could  not  perform  the  duties  of  the  priests.  Here  also 
the  greater  contained  the  less,  but  the  less  did  not  contain  the 
greater.  The  transportation  and  care  of  the  tabernacle  in  the 
wilderness,  and  the  care  of  the  temple  after  it  was  erected  ;  the 
preparation  of  the  sacrifices,  the  cleansing  of  the  altars  and 
courts,  and  a  variety  of  other  labors  falling  upon  a  small  num- 
ber of  priests,  in  addition  to  their  intercession  for  and  instruc- 
tion of  the  people  in  the  law,  would  have  been  too  great  a 
burden  ;  therefore  the  Lord  gave  the  Levites  to  the  priests  to 
be  their  co-laborers  and  assistants.  The  priests  only  could 
offer  the  sacrifices  ;  the  Levites  prepared  them.  The  priests 
ministered  at  the  altar  ;  the  Levites  around  the  altar. 

Priests  and  Levites  constituted  two  orders  in  the  ordinary 
ofiicers  of  the  Church.  The  high-priest  was  not  of  an  order  ~Y\a^ 
distinct  Irom  the  priests,  but  a  priest  to  whom  was  committed  ^t^p-Cv.•( 
some  special  services  of  the  priesthood  above  the  rest ;  and  in  fVv*^ 
addition  he  was  made  the  medium  of  communication  between  C5l^ 
God  and  the  people,  whenever  circumstances  required  it  of  q^  c^ 
Church  or  state,  he  alone  being  permitted  to  go  into  the  pres-  ^'.jr. 
ence  of  God,  and  propound  the  questions  and  receive  replies.  \^^^ 
Aaron  and  his  sons  were  consecrated  to  the  priest's  office  at  the  ,^,,,^,» 
same  time  by  Moses,  and  in  the  same  manner,  and  with  the  same  » 
ceremonies  and  sacrifices,  with  this  difference,  that  some  of 


314  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF    GOD. 

the  garments  of  Aaron  were  unlike  tliose  of  liis  sons,  and  in 

setting  Aaron  apart  Moses  poured  the  anointing  oil  upon  his 

head.      At  the  conclusion  of  the  whole,  "  Moses  took  of  the 

anointing  oil,  and  of  the  blood  w^hicli  was  upon  the  altar,  and 

sprinkled  it  upon  Aaron,  and  upon  his  garments,  and  upon  his 

sons,  and  upon  his  sons'  garments  with  him :    and  sanctified 

Aaron,  and  his  garments,  and  his  sons,  and  his  sons'  garments 

with  him,"  Levit.  viii.  1-30.     This  consecration  of  the  priests 

/  was  never  repeated,  but  ever  afterward,  when  they  arrived  at 

/  the  prescribed  age,  whatever  it  was,  they  entered  uj)on  their 

^  duties  w^ithout  further  ceremony.     Not  so,  however,  with  the 

/  high-priest ;  for  as  often  as  a  new  high-priest  came  to  the  suc- 

V  cession,  he  was  duly  inducted  into  office,  by  being  clothed  with 

the  holy  garments  of  Aaron,  and  by  anointing  with  oil,  and  by 

sacrifices  for  seven  days,  as  prescribed.     He  is  always  spoken 

of  as  being  "  anointed  "  to  his  office,  Ex.  xxix.  29-46  ;    Levit, 

xxi.  10 ;  Kumb.  xxv.  25. 

The  Levites  also  at  first  were  set  apart  by  special  services 
of  consecration,  N^umb.  viii.  1-26,  but  afterwards  arriving  at 
the  prescribed  age,  they  quietly  entered  upon  their  duties. 
The  age  was  first  fixed  at  thirty,  then  twenty-five,  and  in 
David's  time,  at  twenty,  1  Chron.  xxiii.  1-3,  24,  32.  A  release 
was  allowed  them  from  the  more  onerous  duties  at  fifty,  but 
they  continued  in  sacred  employments  to  the  end  of  life, 
]Vrumb.  iv.  1-3  ;  viii.  23-26  ;  Luke  i.  18.  No  period  of  lifo 
was  fixed  for  the  priests  (of  course  such  a  thing  was  impossible 
in  the  case  of  the  high-priest)  either  to  enter  upon  or  to  retire 
from  office.  They  had  oflice  for  their  natural  lives,  beginning 
no  doubt  at  the  age  the  Levites  did,  the  usual  time  that  men 
undertake  the  business  of  life. 

The  labors  of  the  Levites  were  very  considerable  at  the 
tabernacle,  in  the  wilderness,  and  after  it  was  located  at  Shiloh, 
and  then  at  the  temple  in  Jerusalem.  Joshua  granted  them 
assistance,  when  he  condemned  the  Gibeonites  to  be  hewers  of 
wood  and  drawers  of  water  for  the  congregation,  and  to  them 
were  added  in  subsequent  times  the  JSTethinims,  Josh  ix.  1-27  ; 
Ex.  viii.  17-20 ;  vii.  7-24  ;  1  Ki.  ix.  20-21 ;  Ez.  ii.  43-58  ; 
Neh.  iii.  26  ;  vii.  60,  etc. 


THE   ECCLESIASTICAL   LAW.  315 

Both  these  orders  of  officers  were  religious  teachers — min- 
isters of  the  "Word  of  God  in  the  Church — to  reprove,  rebuke, 
and  exhort  with  all  longsuffering  and  doctrine,  leading  men  to 
repentance,  faith,  and  godly  living.  "  The  priest's  lips  should 
keep  knowledge,  and  they  should  seek  law  at  his  mouth  ;  for 
he  is  the  messenger  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,"  and  when  the  priests 
were  faithful,  "  they  did  turn  many  away  from  iniquity,"  Mai. 
ii.  1-7.  Of  Levi,  Moses  saith,  "  they  shall  teach  Jacob  thy 
judgments  and  Israel  thy  law/'  Deut.  xxxiii.  8-11.  Jehosha- 
phat  sent  priests  and  Levites  throughout  his  kingdom,  with  the 
book  of  the  law  to  teach  the  people,  2  Chron.  xvii.  8-10. 
Hezekiah  "  spake  comfortably  to  all  the  Levites  that  taught 
the  good  knowledge  of  the  Lord,"  2  Chron.  xxx.  21-22.  The 
Levites  united  with  the  priests  in  conducting  the  public  wor- 
ship of  the  people,  in  singing,  praying,  and  preaching.  So 
were  they  united  in  the  revival  under  Nehemiah.  The  priests 
and  the  Levites,  "  caused  the  people  to  understand  the  law  : 
and  the  people  stood  in  their  place  :  so  they  read  in  the  book, 
in  the  law  of  God,  distinctly,  and  gave  the  sense,  and  caused 
them  to  understand  the  reading,"  Neh.  viii.  1-8  ;  comp.  Eze. 
xliv.  23-24 ;  Hos.  iv.  6.  They  instructed  the  people  assem- 
bled for  worship  on  the  week  days,  and  on  the  sabbath,  at  the 
tabernacle,  in  the  temple,  in  the  synagogues,  and  in  their  local 
places  for  social  and  public  worship,  which  were  built  in  all 
the  villages.  Not  only  was  it  for  the  convenience  of  giving 
support  to  the  priests  and  Levites  by  the  people,  but  also  for 
the  convenience  of  affording  instruction  to  the  people,  that  the 
forty-eight  Levitical  cities  were  dispersed  throughout  the  tribes. 
At  these  central  points  they  could  give  instruction,  and  from 
them  they  went  into  the  regions  round  about.  Then  the  three 
great  festivals  occurring  every  year,  which  all  the  people  were 
required  to  attend,  were  special  occasions  for  preaching  and 
instruction ;  and  once  in  seven  years,  at  the  feast  of  tabernacles 
in  the  sabbatical  year,  the  Lord  ordained  that  the  whole  law 
should  be  read  in  the  hearing  of  the  people,  Deut.  YTiTrit4f 
10-13  ;  Matt,  xxiii.  1-3. 

In  addition  to  the  regular  ministry,  which,  in  numbers, 
ability,  and  opportunity,  was  abundant  for  the  religious  train- 


316  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

ing  and  instruction  of  the  people,  the  Chnrch  enjoyed  in  suc- 
cession for  ages  the  instruction  and  preaching  of  holy  men 
whom  God  ordained  to  be  prophets,  leaders;  and  commanders 
of  the  people,  such  as  Moses,  Joshua,  the  Judges,  Samuel, 
David,  Solomon,  and  all  the  prophets.  The  extraordinary 
labors  of  Elijah  and  Elisha  are  recorded,  and  the  books  of  the 
several  prophets  attest  their  fidelity  and  power. 

There  may  be  added  also  to  this  ample  provision  and  reg- 
ular public  religious  instruction  of  the  Church,  that  private 
training  which  God  commanded  in  reference  to  children. 
Parents  were  enjoined  to  be  in  the  first  place  the  servants  of 
God,  well  instructed  themselves,  and  then  to  bring  up  their 
children  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord,  not  only 
teaching  them  the  "Word  itself,  but  causing  them  to  under- 
stand the  sacred  covenant  of  God  with  them,  all  the  sacred 
monuments,  feasts,  customs,  and  rites  of  the  Church,  (Ps. 
Ixxxvii.  1-8  ;  Deut.  vi.  1-9  ;  xi.  18-21 ;  Eph.  vi.  4,)  "  that 
they  might  set  their  hope  in  God,  and  not  forget  the  works 
of  God,  but  keep  His  commandents." 

No  alteration  was  made  in  the  constitution  of  the  Church 
in  respect  to  members ;  they  remained  the  same,  believers 
together  with  their  infant  children.  The  door  continued  open 
for  the  admission  also  of  proselytes  or  converts  from  all  na- 
tions. Ministers  did  not  preach  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation 
to  all  the  world,  as  they  were  commanded  to  do  after  the 
coming  of  Christ,  the  time  set  for  it  not  being  come.  Yet  the 
Gentiles  were  not  excluded,  for  "  thus  saith  the  Lord,  The 
sons  of  the  stranger  that  join  themselves  to  the  Lord  to  serve 
Him,  and  to  love  the  name  of  the  Lord,  to  be  His  servants : 
every  one  that  keepeth  the  sabbath  from  polluting  it,  and 
taketh  hold  of  my  covenant,  even  them  will  I  bring  to  my  holy 
mountain,  and  make  them  joyful  in  my  house  of  prayer  :  their 
burnt-offerings  and  their  sacrifices  shall  be  accepted  upon  mine 
altar  :  for  mine  house  shall  be  called  an  house  of  prayer  for  all 
people,"  Isa.  Ivi.  1-7.  Kone  that  came  were  cast  out.  For- 
eigners captured  in  war,  or  bought  witb  money,  were  incor- 
porated into  the  body  of  Israel.  Holy  men  of  old,  as  of  later 
times,  loved  the  souls  of  men,  and  longed  and  prayed  for  the 


THE   ECCLESIASTICAL    LAW.  317 

extension  of  tlie  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  the  conversion  of  the 
world,  Ps.  ii.  8-12;  Ixvi.  1-4;  Ixviii.  31-32;  Ps.  xcvi.- 
xcviii.,  c,  cxvii.,  cxlviii.,  cl.  The  propliets  were  filled  with 
this  spirit. 

The  constitutional  law  regulated  also  the  places,  times,  and 
seasons  of  divine  worship.  From  Adam  to  Moses  the  Church 
sacrificed  and  worshipped  in  any  place  suitable  and  convenient 
for  the  purpose.  But  at  Mount  Sinai,  it  pleased  God  to  set  up 
the  tabernacle,  which  was  the  abode  of  God,  their  King,  among 
His  saints  and  subjects,  Ex.  xxv.  8  ;  xxix.  42-46  ;  Levit.  xxvi. 
11-12.  The  symbol  of  His  presence  was  the  glorious  Sheki- 
nah,  illuminating  the  Holy  of  Holies,  and  resting  between  the 
eherubims  on  the  mercy-seat  over  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  as 
upon  a  throne.  Before  the  presence  of  God,  and  in  the  courts 
of  this  tabernacle  alone,  were  the  people  permitted  to  offer 
sacrifices.  The  law  was  peremptory,  for  it  was  only  on  extra- 
ordinary occasions  and  by  inspired  prophets,  that  sacrifices 
were  allowed  to  be  ofi'ered  in  other  places,  1  Sam.  xv.  31 ; 
xvi.  1-5  ;  1  Ki.  xviii.  20-38.  It  was  the  sin  of  the  people 
that,  for  their  own  convenience,  in  after  times,  they  set  aside 
this  law,  and  presumed  to  build  altars,  to  sacrifice  and  wor- 
ship God  in  their  own  selected  "  high  places."  They  did  not 
wish  to  go  as  far  as  Shiloh  or  Jerusalem  to  worship.  These 
"  high  places  "  were  sometimes  prostituted  to  idols. 

In  the  inner  apartment  of  the  tabernacle,  the  Holy  of  Holies, 
there  was  placed  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  on  which  was  the 
mercy-seat,  containing  the  two  tables  of  the  law,  the  golden 
pot  that  contained  the  manna,  and  Aaron's  rod  that  budded 
and  blossomed.  In  the  outer  apartment,  the  holy  place, 
entered  daily  by  the  priests  in  their  ministrations,  were  the 
table  with  the  shew-bread,  the  altar  of  incense,  and  the  golden 
candlestick.  Before  the  tabernacle,  in  the  priests'  com't,  were 
the  great  altar  for  sacrifice,  whereon  all  sacrifices  were  ofi'ered, 
and  the  brazen  laver  and  furniture  for  sacrifice,  Ex.  xxx. 
18-28 ;  comp.  1  Kings  vii.  1-43.  On  the  altar,  the  sacred 
fire,  given  by  God  at  the  setting  up  of  the  tabernacle,  was  kept 
constantly  burning  and  never  sufiered  to  go  out.  Every 
morning  and  evening  a  lamb  was  offered,  called  the  daily 


318  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

sacrifice.  Tlie  tabernacle  was  kept  open  day  by  day,  and  tlie 
priests  were  always  in  attendance,  so  that  the  people  could 
come  from  any  place  and  at  any  time,  to  ofier  their  sacrifice 
and  worship  God.  By  this  arrangement  many  were  accommo- 
dated without  inconvenience  and  without  delay.  Multitudes 
of  worshippers  were  always  entering  in  and  coming  out  of  the 
tabernacle  and  the  temple. 

The  tabernacle  was  superseded  by  the  temple  of  Solomon 
in  Jerusalem  ;  that  being  destroyed  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  the 
second  temple  was  built  by  Ezra,  on  the  return  of  the  Jews 
from  captivity,  which  was  afterwards  thoroughly  repaired  and 
beautified  by  Herod  the  Great,  and  finally  destroyed  by  the 
Eomans  under  Titus. 

While  the  tabernacle,  and  afterwards  the  temple,  was  the 
ordained  place  of  worship  by  sacrifice,  there  were  throughout 
the  land  "  proseuchai,"  or  places  for  prayer,  and  houses  for 
social  and  public  worship  on  the  sabbath  and  other  days 
called  synagogues,  ("  assembly  places,")  in  which  the  people 
heard  the  word  of  God  read  and  explained,  and  where  they 
ofi'ered  prayer  and  praise  in  the  plain  and  spiritual  manner  in 
which  public  worship  is  conducted  by  the  people  of  God  in 
our  day.  No  images  or  pictures  of  any  sort  appeared  in  the 
synagogue.  The  precise  period  in  which  synagogues  took 
their  rise  and  became  common,  is  involved  in  uncertainty,  but 
it  is  our  belief  that  their  antiquity  is  very  great,  and  their 
existence  grew  out  of  the  desire  and  necessity  which  the 
people  of  God  felt  for  spiritual  communion  one  with  another 
and  with  God,  Ps.  vii.  8  ;  Acts  xv.  21. 

The  times  appointed  for  worship  were,  as  already  stated, 
every  day,  and,  above  all  days,  the  sabbath ;  then  the  three 
great  yearly  feasts,  each  of  many  days'  continuance,  at  which 
all  the  males,  together  with  their  families  and  households,  so 
far  as  it  was  practicable,  were  to  appear  before  the  Lord  at  the 
tabernacle,  and  afterwards  at  the  temple.  The  first  was  the 
feast  of  unleavened  bread  or  the  passover,  observed  in  our 
month  of  March,  and  in  commemoration  of  the  deliverance 
out  of  Egypt ;  the  second,  pentecost,  or  the  feast  of  weeks, 
fifty  days  after  the  passover,  observed  in  our  month  of  May, 


THE   CIVIL   LAW.  319 

and  commemorative  of  the  harvest,  hence  also  called  "  the 
feast  of  harvest ;  "  the  third,  the  feast  of  tabernacles,  observed 
in  the  latter  part  of  onr  September  and  first  of  October, 
commemorative  of  God's  dwelling  within  a  tabernacle,  and  of 
their  dwelling  in  tabernacles  in  the  wilderness,  called  also 
"  the  feast  of  ingathering  at  the  end  of  the  year,"  when  all 
their  harvests  were  completed,  Exod.  xxiii.  14-17.  Added  to 
these,  there  were  other  important  feasts :  for  example,  tlie 
new  moons,  or  first  days  of  every  month,  observed  at  the 
tabernacle  and  temple  with  appointed  sacrifices  and  services, 
and  thns  each  month  was  sanctified ;  the  feast  of  trnmpets, 
occurring  on  the  first  days  of  the  civil  year,  on  the  first  day 
of  the  seventh  month,  for  the  sanctification  of  tlie  year  with 
appropriate  sacrifices — a  sabbath,  a  memorial  of  blowing  of 
trumpets,  a  holy  convocation,  Levit.  xxiii.  24-25.  Finally, 
the  annual  feast  of  expiation,  the  great  day  of  atonement, 
observed  in  our  October,  (the  10th  of  the  seventh  month,)  with 
its  attendant  and  most  impressive  sacrifices  and  services ; 
typical  of  the  great  High-Priest  and  Sacrifice,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  Levit.  xxiii.  1-44 ;  xvi.  1-34. 

Lastly,  the  disciplinary  law,  for  the  infliction  of  penalties 
by  the  officers  of  the  Church,  for  transgressions  of  the  moral, 
ceremonial,  or  constitutional  law.  The  penalties  were  suspen- 
sion from  Church  privileges  in  whole  or  in  part,  and  for  a 
longer  or  a  shorter  time,  and  also  excommunication,  John  ix. 
18-34 ;  Gen.  xvii.  14 ;  Ezra  x.  7-8.  The  officers  also  were 
liable  to  discipline.  This  law  guarded  also  the  qualifications 
and  admission  of  members,  Gen.  xvii.  11-13.  The  power  of 
the  keys  was  committed  to  the  Church  from  the  beginning. 

The  ecclesiastical  law  now  disposed  of  has  been  cast  under 
these  four  heads,  the  moral,  the  ceremonial,  the  constitutional, 
and  the  disciplinary,  not  that  they  are  summed  up  (with  the 
exception  of  the  moral  law)  in  distinct  chapters  (for  they  lie 
without  any  formal  arrangement  in  the  inspired  "Word),  but 
that  under  these  heads  our  conception  of  the  whole  might  be 
more  satisfactory. 

Second  :  the  civil  law.  The  visible  Churcli  existed  as  a 
state  from  Abraham   to   Moses,  under   the   government   of 


320  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

jDatriarclis  and  elders,  and  received  a  civil  constitution  at 
Sinai,  wliicli  continued  in  its  essential  features  to  the  time  of 
the  overthrow  of  the  state,  although  undergoing  some  modifi- 
cations upon  the  introduction  of  kingly  power,  and  the  fre- 
quent rule  of  heathen  nations. 

Under  this  constitution,  as  before  it,  God  was  by  His  own 
gracious  assumption,  absolute  king.  The  Church  and  state 
formed  but  one  body,  of  which  He  was  both  God  and  king — 
king  not  by  hereditary  descent,  nor  by  gift  and  appointment 
of  another — not  by  election  of  the  people,  nor  by  conquest — 
but  by  right  of  creation,  preservation,  election,  and  grace — by 
a  right  divine.  The  people  were  not  consulted,  either  col- 
lectively or  representatively,  in  respect  to  constitution  or  laws ; 
but  He  gave  them  both  as  He  in  His  infinite  wisdom, 
goodness,  and  authority,  saw  best,  and  to  them  He  required 
uni'eserved  and  unresisting  submission,  Exod.  xix.  4-8.  They 
heard  His  voice  in  Horeb,  "  speaking  out  of  tlie  midst  of  the 
fire."  "What  He  spoke  out  He  delivered  by  Moses.  The  laws 
were  perfect,  and  carefully  committed  to  writing ;  and  the 
Lord  dwelt  among  the  people,  always  accessible  on  the  occur- 
rence of  any  difficulty,  either  in  understanding  or  executing 
the  laws,  or  in  any  emergencies  in  the  state,  where  the  rulers 
and  the  people  knew  not  how  to  act.  On  such  occasions  the 
high  priest  put  on  the  robes  and  breastplate,  with  Urim  and 
Thummim,  entered  into  the  holy  place  before  God  and  pro- 
pounded the  questions,  and  received  replies.  If  any  where 
necessarily  absent  from  the  tabernacle,  he  could  put  on  the 
Urim  and  Thummim  and  consult  God  and  be  answered.  No 
nation  was  ever  so  exalted  and  honored,  by  the  dwelling  of 
God  among  them,  and  by  the  possession  of  laws  framed  by 
His  own  infinite  wisdom,  wherein  all  the  great  principles  of 
justice  were  so  plainly  stated  as  to  render  their  application 
easy  to  the  various  cases  as  they  came  up  for  judgment.  The 
end  which  God  had  in  view  in  giving  righteous  statutes  and 
judgments,  above  what  any  people  on  earth  possessed,  was,  as 
Moses  expressed  it  to  the  Israelites,  "  to  make  thee  high  above 
all  nations  which  He  hath  made,  in  praise,  and  in  name,  and 
in  honor :    and  that  thou  mayest  be  an  holy  people  unto  the 


THE   CIVIL   LAW.  321 

Lord  thy  God,  as  He  liath  spoken,"  Exod.  xix -xx.  ;  Dent.  iv. 
1-49  ;  v.-vii.,  etc. ;  Deut.  xvii.  8-13  ;  Judges  i.  1-2  ;  xx. 
18-28  ;  1  Sara.  iv.  4 ;  xxii.  10  ;  xxiii.  1-12  ;  2  Sam.  xvi.  23  ; 
1  Kings  vi.  16 ;  viii.  6  ;  2  Chron.  iv.  20  ;  Ps.  ix.  11 ;  xxviii.  2  ; 
cxxxv.  21 ;  clxvii.  19-20  ;  Dent.  xxvi.  18-19. 

Every  person  in  the  commonwealth  was  subject  to  the 
civil,  as  was  every  one  to  the  ecclesiastical  law,  from  the  king 
upon  his  throne  to  the  slave  that  waited  upon  his  master. 
There  were  no  privileged  persons,  orders,  or  professions  ;  all 
free  citizens  were  upon  an  equality  and  eligible  to  any  civil 
office,  with  a  right  of  suffrage  in  all. 

The  officers  were  extraordinary  and  ordinary ;  the  extra- 
ordinary, such  as  God  raised  up  and  appointed  to  special 
services,  and  in  whose  hands  a  supreme  power  was  lodged 
over  the  whole  body.  Such  were  Moses,  Joshua,  the  Judges, 
Samuel,  Ezra,  Neheraiah,  and  Zerubbabel.  When  the  kingly 
power  was  introduced  by  the  people,  the  Lord  permitted  it, 
regnlated  it,  and  made  the  king  supreme,  yet  subject  to  a 
written  constitution  and  to  God  Himself,  the  king  in  Zion  : 
for  the  theocracy  continued  as  before,  1  Sam.  viii.  1-20. 

The  ordinary  officers  were  elders  of  the  people,  such  as  ex 
isted  in  Egypt,  whose  functions  were  not  definitely  imderstood, 
Exod.  iv.  29 ;  iii.  16 ;  and  such  as  were  appointed  by  Moses, 
at  the  suggestion  of  Jetliro,  and  by  divine  approval,  bnt 
through  the  people,  to  whom  their  election  was  committed  by 
Moses.  After  they  had  chosen  the  men,  "  rulers  of  thousands, 
rulers  of  hundreds,  rulers  of  fifties,  and  rulers  of  tens,"  having 
severally  prescribed  jurisdiction,  and  formed  successive  courts 
of  appeal,  Moses  set  them  apart  and  gave  them  a  charge, 
saying,  "  Hear  the  causes  between  your  brethren,  and  judge 
righteously  between  every  man  and  his  brother,  and  the 
stranger  that  is  with  him.  Ye  shall  not  respect  persons  in 
judgment,  but  ye  shall  hear  the  small  as  well  as  the  great : 
ye  shall  not  be  afraid  of  the  face  of  man,  for  the  judgment  is 
God's  :  and  the  cause  which  is  too  hard  for  you  bring  it  unto 
me  and  I  will  hear  it,"  Exod.  xviii.  1-2Y ;  Deut.  i.  9-18; 
Kumb.  ix.  7-8  ;  xxvii.  4-5  ;  xv.  32-31 ;  Levit.  xxiv.  10-23. 

These  elders  and  officers  acted  in  their  respective  tribes. 
21 


322  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

"  Gather  unto  me,"  saitli  Moses,  "  all  the  elders  of  your  tribes 
and  officers,"  etc.,  Dent.  xxxi.  28  ;  collectively  called  also 
"  elders  of  Israel,"  Dent,  xxvii.  1 ;  xxxi.  9 ;  Josh.  vii.  6  ; 
1  Chron.  xi.  3,  and  "  ciders  of  the  people,"  Numb.  xi.  16,  24 ; 
Ruth  iv.  4  ;  Dent.  xvi.  18 — their  chosen  rulers  and  represent- 
atives, acting  in  their  name  and  for  their  benefit,  who  deliber- 
ated on  their  affairs,  and  received  communications  from  God 
and  the  supreme  governor,  Levit.  iv.  14 ;  Deut.  xxxi.  8  ;  1 
Kings  XX.  8.  These  officers  were  located  in  all  the  cities  of 
Israel,  (hence  the  frequent  mention  of  "  elders  of  the  city,") 
and  ruled  over  their  respective  cities,  with  power  even  to 
inflict  capital  punishment,  Deut.  xix.  1-13  ;  xxi.  18-23  ;  xxvi. 
1-10,  In  certain  cases  they  acted  in  concert  with  the  elders 
of  the  neighboring  cities,  Deut.  xxi.  1-9  ;  Ezra  x.  13-4.  Such 
were  "  the  judges  and  officers  "  which  the  people  were  "  com- 
manded to  make.  "  Judges  and  officers  shalt  thou  make  thee 
in  all  thy  gates,  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee,  through- 
out thy  tribes  :  and  they  shall  judge  the  people  with  just 
judgment,"  Deut.  xvi.  18-20. 

Trials  of  causes  of  every  sort  were  conducted  before  the 
elders,  or  officers,  "  in  the  gate  " — the  place  of  concourse — 
openly,  publicly,  and  according  to  law,  with  this  peculiarity, 
that  they  acted  as  a  jury  also.  The  witnesses  were  to  be  of 
sufficient  number  and  of  reputable  character,  Deut.  xvii.  1-7 ; 
xix.  15-21 ;  and  their  testimony,  if  false,  was  at  the  risk  of 
incurring  the  judgment  sought  to  be  obtained  against  their 
neighbor.  Provision  was  made  against  the  infliction  of  judg- 
ment under  the  excitement  produced  by  the  crime ;  for  the 
criminal  was  allowed  to  flee  to  the  city  of  refuge,  and  time 
was  secured  for  calm  and  patient  investigation. 

Appeals  in  difficult  cases  coming  up  through  the  lower 
courts,  were  at  first  brought  before  Moses,  but  afterwards 
before  a  supreme  court  established  in  his  time  and  perpetuated. 
So  Moses  ordains  :  "  If  there  arise  a  matter  too  hard  for  thee 
in  judgment,  between  blood  and  blood,  between  plea  and  plea, 
and  between  stroke  and  stroke,  being  matters  of  controversy 
within  thy  gates  :  then  shalt  thou  arise,  and  get  thee  up  into 
the  place  which  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  choose,"  (that  is,  the 


THE   GREAT   KEPKESENTATIVE   COUNCIL.  323 

place  where  He  shall  dwell  in  tabernacle  or  temple,)  "  and 
thou  shalt  come  unto  the  priests,  the  Levites,  and  unto  the 
judge,"  (or  judges,  Dent.  xix.  17,)  "  that  shall  be  in  those 
days,  and  inquire :  and  they  shall  shew  thee  the  sentence  of 
judgment.  And  thou  shalt  do  according  to  the  sentence, 
which  thej  of  that  place  which  the  Lord  shall  choose  shall 
shew  thee ;  and  thou  shalt  observe  to  do  according  to  all  that 
they  inform  thee  :  according  to  the  sentence  of  the  law  which 
they  shall  teach  tliee,  and  according  to  the  judgment  whicli 
they  shall  tell  thee,  thou  shalt  do  :  thou  shalt  not  decline  from 
the  sentence  which  they  shall  shew  thee,  to  the  right  hand,  or 
to  the  left.  And  the  man  that  will  do  presumptuously  and 
will  not  hearken  unto  the  priest  that  standeth  to  minister  there 
before  the  Lord  thy  God,"  (that  is,  the  high-priest,)  "  or  unto 
the  judge  "  (or  judges),  "  even  that  man  shall  die  ;  and  thou 
shalt  put  away  the  evil  from  Israel.  And  all  the  people  shall 
hear,  and  fear,  and  do  no  more  presumptuously,"  Deut.  xvii. 
8-13.  The  appeal  in  civil  cases  was  to  the  judge  or  judges — ^ 
to  the  civil  court ;  in  spiritual  cases,  to  the  high-priest,  priests, 
and  Levites — to  the  spiritual  court.  "When  the  judges  or 
priests  were  unable  to  decide,  they  were  then  to  inquire  of  the 
Lord,  (who  was  king  in  Zion,)  through  the  high-priest,  and 
receive  a  solution  of  the  case.  From  a  careful  study  of  this 
passage  and  also  2  Chron.  xix.  1-11,  it  apjDcars  that  the 
minister  of  religion  had  nothing  to  do  with  civil  cases,  beyond 
inquiring  through  the  high-priest  for  the  supreme  judge  or 
judges,  whenever  it  should  be  necessary  so  to  do. 

Independently  of  the  elders  and  officers  in  all  the  gates  of 
Israel,  there  was  this  court  of  final  appeal  and  control  above 
them,  which  also  acted  in  concert  with  him  who  was  in 
command  of  the  people,  whether  judge  or  king.  It  was 
defined  and  established  during  the  lifetime  of  Moses  on  the 
following  occasion,  Numb.  xi.  1-30.  The  fire  of  the  Lord  had 
burnt  among  the  people  for  their  complainings  ;  the  mixed 
multitude  fell  a-lusting,  and  the  people  wept  and  complained 
again  throughout  their  families,  every  man  in  the  door  of  his 
tent,  and  the  anger  of  the  Lord  was  kindled  greatly.  Moses 
was  weary   of  his  charge,  complained  to   the  Lord  of  the 


324  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CUUECH   OF   GOD. 

affliction  and  burden  of  the  people,  and  said,  "  I  am  not  able 
to  bear  all  this  people  alone,  because  it  is  too  heavy  for  me. 
And  if  thou  deal  thus  with  me,  kill  me,  I  pray  thee,  out  of 
hand,  if  I  have  found  favor  in  thy  sight ;  and  let  me  not  see 
my  wretchedness.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Gather 
unto  me  seventy  men  of  the  elders  of  Israel,  whom  thou 
knowest  to  be  the  elders  of  the  people,  and  officers  over  them ; 
and  bring  them  unto  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation,  that 
they  may  stand  there  with  thee.  And  I  will  come  down  and 
talk  with  thee  there  :  and  I  will  take  of  the  spirit  which  is 
upon  thee,  and  will  put  it  upon  them  "  (that  is,  a  spirit  of 
authority,  wisdom,  and  willingness  to  rule :  the  spirit  of  the 
high  station  to  which  God  would  appoint  them) ;  "  and  they 
shall  bear  the  burden  of  the  people  with  thee,  that  thou  bear 
it  not  thyself  alone."  Moses  went  out,  and  "  gathered  the 
seventy  men  of  the  elders  of  the  people,  and  set  them  round 
about  the  tabernacle.  And  the  Lord  came  down  in  a  cloud, 
and  spake  unto  him,  and  took  of  the  spirit  that  was  upon  him, 
and  gave  it  unto  the  seventy  elders."  In  this  solemn,  august, 
and  public  manner  these  officers  of  the  people  were  inaugu- 
rated assistants  to  Moses  in  the  highest  exercises  of  power. 
"  And  it  came  to  pass  when  the  spirit  rested  upon  them,  they 
prophesied  and  did  not  cease."  These  were  not  the  same 
"  seventy  elders  "  who,  at  God's  command,  went  up  at  Sinai 
to  see  the  God  of  glory  wath  Moses,  Aaron,  J^adab,  and 
Abihu,  Exod.  xxiv.  1,  etc.  They  were  different  men,  called 
out  and  set  apart  to  a  difi'erent  service  altogether.  They  were 
a  selection,  either  by  Moses  or  the  people,  out  of  those  who 
had  already  been  chosen  elders  and  officers  in  Israel.  They 
assisted  Moses  in  the  supreme  administration,  and  bore  the 
burden  of  the  government  of  the  whole  people  with  him. 
Thus  afterwards  Moses  is  observed  associating  them  with 
himself  in  the  government.  Dent,  xxvii.  1.  "  And  Moses  with 
the  elders  of  Israel  commanded  the  people,  saying.  Keep  all 
the  commandments  which  I  command  you  this  day  ;"  and  he 
goes  on  to  tell  them  wdiat  they  shall  do  when  they  pass  over 
Jordan. 

This  assembly  of  elders  was  certainly  as  much  needed  by 


THE   GREAT   KE  PRE  SENT  ATIVE   COUNCIL.  325 

all  the  successors  of  Moses  as  by  Moses  himself,  and,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  a  supreme  ruler  or  king,  acted  alone.  We  think  they 
are  referred  to  as  existing  and  acting  with  Joshua :  xxiv.  31. 
"  And  Israel  served  the  Lord  all  the  days  of  Joshua,  and  of  the 
elders  that  overlived  Joshua,"  that  is,  of  the  elders  who  had 
served  with  Moses  and  himself,  in  the  government.  While 
they  lived  they  possessed  a  controlling  power  and  influence 
over  the  people.  There  was  no  successor  appointed  upon  the 
death  of  Joshua ;  and  during  the  interregnum  the  people 
declined  in  character.  "  In  those  days  there  was  no  king  " — 
no  supreme  ruler  in  Israel,  to  lay  restraint  upon  the  people — 
so  "  every  man  did  that  which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes," 
Judges  xxi.  25,  comp.  xix.-xx.  This  supreme  council  of  elders 
appears  acting  with  authority,  and  deciding  the  manner  in 
which  the  remnant  of  the  Benjaminites  should  be  provided 
with  wives.  "  Then  the  elders  of  the  congregation  "  deter- 
mined the  manner,  "  and  commanded  the  children  of  Ben- 
jamin, saying,"  etc..  Judges  xxi.  16  ;  xx.  24.  In  the  days  of 
Samuel,  his  sons  proved  miserable  and  vile  judges.  "  Then  all 
the  elders  of  Israel  gathered  themselves  together  and  came  to 
Samuel  unto  Ramah  :  "  requesting  him  to  make  them  a  king 
to  rule  them  like  all  the  nations.  They  acted  as  represent- 
atives and  authoritatively,  and  are  spoken  of  and  to,  as  "  the 
people  "  in  this  transaction,  1  Sam.  viii.  1-22.  Ahab,  when 
threatened  by  Ben-hadad,  king  of  Syria,  gathered  all  the 
elders  of  Israel  together  and  took  council  with  them  wliat  to 
do,  1  Kings  xx.  1-8.  The  elders  are  mentioned  from  time  to 
time,  in  counsel  wath  the  kings,  2  Sam.  v.  3  ;  1  Kings  viii.  3  ; 
2  Chron.  v.  4- ;  1  Chron.  xxi.  16.  Finally,  after  tlie  return 
of  the  people  i'rom  (captivity,  Ezra  speaks  of  the  ciders  as  in 
authority,  and  acting  as  a  supreme  counsel  at  Jerusalem  in 
settling  the  matter  of  the  strange  wives,  Ezra  v.  5  ;  vi.  11: ;  x. 
8-17,  comp.  Ezek.  xliv.  23-21.  These  references  favor  the 
conclusion  that  this  high  council  of  elders,  ordained  by  the 
Lord  under  Moses,  was  a  perpetual  institution,  and  formed  in 
the  nation  the  supreme  court  of  appeal  and  control,  Dent, 
xvii.  8-13.  Let  it  l)e  added  that  when  Jehoshaphat  reformed 
the  kingdom  of  Judah,  "  he  set  judges  in  the  land  in  all  the 


326  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

fenced  cities  of  Judali,"  and  restored  also  this  supreme  court 
of  appeal  and  control,  referring  to  the  law  of  Moses,  which  he 
partially  quotes  for  authority  in  so  doing,  2  Chron.  xix.  1-11. 

The  place  where  this  council  held  its  meetings  was  always 
where  God  himself  dwelt — in  the  tabernacle,  wherever  it  was — 
and  afterward  in  the  temple  built  at  Jerusalem. 

There  was  a  council  of  elders  and  chief  priests  at  Jerusalem 
during  the  life  of  our  Lord,  which,  acting  in  an  ecclesiastical 
capacity,  condemned  Ilim  to  death  upon  the  charge  of  blas- 
phemy. But  the  power  of  life  and  death  having  been  taken 
from  them,  they  were  compelled  to  secure  a  sentence  of  death 
from  Pilate,  the  Roman  governor,  by  preferring,  in  addition 
to  the  charge  of  blasphemy,  that  of  treason,  Matt.  xxvi.  59-68 ; 
xxvii.  1-25  ;  John  xviii.  28-40.  This  council  also  persecuted 
the  Apostles,  and  c?:tended  its  jurisdiction  in  ecclesiastical 
ajffairs  even  to  strange  cities.  Acts  vi.  8-15  ;  vii.  1,  etc.,  viii.  1, 
etc.,  ix.  1-2,  etc.,  xxiii.  12-15. 

In  this  council  of  seventy  elders  now  traced  out,  we  discover 
the  original  of  the  Sanhedrim — the  Sanhedrim  itself.  Kings 
became  ordinary  officers  after  their  appointment,  and  some- 
thing of  a  nobility  followed  in  their  train,  1  Sam.  viii.  1-22. 

Penalties  adopted  by  all  nations  since,  were  attached  to  the 
violation  of  the  laws — such  as  fines,,  imprisonment,  corporal 
punishments,  forfeitures  of  liberty,  property,  privileges,  and, 
finally,  of  death  in  several  forms.  In  addition,  it  pleased  the 
Lord  to  threaten,  and  at  times  to  execute  severe  and  various 
temporal  and  necessarily  spiritual  judgments  upon  the  people 
at  large,  whenever  they  should  decline  from  their  allegiance  to 
their  God  and  King — ^judgments  more  fearful  and  weighty  in 
consideration  of  the  greater  light  resisted,  and  mercies  abused. 
For  a  summary  and  minute  detail  of  the  various  threatened 
judgments,  we  refer  to  Levit.  xxvi. ;  Deut.  xxviii.  All  of 
which  were  literally  visited  upon  God's  backsliding  and  rebel- 
lious people  in  after  ages ;  and  under  some  of  which  the 
Israelites,  since  the  rejection  of  their  owu  Messiah,  are  now 
suffering.  They  are  living  witnesses  in  all  countries  Avhere 
they  are  scattered,  of  the  truth  of  the  Word  of  God,  Deut. 
xviii.  18  :  Acts  iii.  32  ;  IIos.  ii.  23  :  Isa.  x.  22-23  :  Eom.  xi. 


PENALTIES   AND    KEWAKDS.  327 

Further,  it  pleased  a  gracious  King  and  God  to  add  exceed- 
ingly great  and  precious  promises  of  His  presence,  protection, 
and  manifold  blessings  to  the  people  if  they  should  prove 
obedient,  (a  summary  of  which  is  given  in  the  same  chapters 
of  Leviticus  and  Deuteronomy,)  and  they  were  enjoyed  by  the 
people  in  the  days  wherein  they  proved  themselves  willing  and 
obedient. 

The  penalties  and  rewards  addressed  to  the  people,  as  con- 
stituting Church  and  state,  were  both  temporal  and  spiritual. 
If  we  would  fully  comprehend  the  typical  and  spiritual  nature 
of  the  temporal  rewards  and  penalties,  we  must  consult  the 
prophetical  writings  of  the  Psalms.  To  assert  that  God  gov- 
erned His  ancient  people  by  temporal  penalties  and  rewards 
only,  is  criminal  folly.  The  plain  truth  is,  that  existing  as  a 
spiritual  and  temporal  kingdom,  rewards  and  punishments 
were  meeted  out  to  them  in  each  capacity.  By  the  neglect  of 
this  key,  men  err  in  unlocking  and  comprehending  the  true 
nature  of  God's  government  over  His  ancient  people.  Their 
spiritual  relations  were  always  placed  above  their  temporal 
relations,  and  the  latter  made  subsidiary  to  the  former. 

While  the  Israelites  were  in  the  body  politic  one  people,  or 
nation,  they  were  divided  into  distinct  tribes,  with  dis- 
tinct territorial  limits — separate  states  forming  one  common- 
wealth— exercising  a  government  within  themselves,  yet  all 
under  one  general  constitution  and  code  of  laws  as  ordained  of 
God — meeting  in  general  council  by  their  representatives  when- 
ever the  public  good  required  it.  Josh.  xxii.  12-30.  In  war, 
each  state  furnished  its  own  equivalents  in  men  and  provisions. 
The  council  of  seventy  chosen  from  all  the  tribes,  might  there- 
fore be  considered  the  senate  of  the  nation. 

Two  institutions  remain  to  be  noticed,  both  of  a  religious 
and  civil  nature,  but  partaking  more  of  the  latter  than  of  the 
former  :  the  sabbatical  year  and  the  year  of  jubilee.  Every 
seventh  year  was  the  sabbatical  year.  The  land  was  not 
cultivated  at  all,  but  left  to  enjoy  a  sabbath  rest,  Exod.  xxiii. 
11 ;  Le\-it.  xxv,  4.  Its  spontaneous  productions  were  freely 
eaten  by  the  people,  especially  by  the  poor ;  and  the  cattle 
came  in  for  a  share,  Levit.  xxv.  6  ;   Exod.  xxiii.  11 ;  Levit. 


328  THE   niSTOKY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF    GOD. 

XXV.  7.  Debts  between  Israelites  alone,  were  cancelled,  Deut. 
XV.  2-11.  At  the  feast  of  the  tabernacles  in  this  year,  the  law 
was  read  in  the  hearing  of  all  the  people,  Deut.  xxxi.  10-13. 
This  institution  tended  to  unite  the  people  as  one  people,  and 
to  beget  universal  kindness  and  a  spirit  of  entire  dependence 
upon  God,  who  gave  them  the  food  of  two  years  in  one, 
Levit.  XXV.  20-22. 

Every  fiftieth  year  was  the  year  of  jubilee,  Levit.  xxv.  9-10 ; 
ushered  in  by  the  blowing  of  trumpets,  and  commencing  on 
the  great  day  of  atonement.  Immediately  followed  the  sabbati- 
cal year  ;  and,  as  in  the  sabbatical  year,  so  in  the  year  of  jubi- 
lee, the  land  was  not  planted,  and  its  spontaneous  fruits  were 
common  to  all.  Hence  the  Lord,  on  the  occurrence  of  the  jubi- 
lee, gave  them  the  food  of  three  years  in  one,  2  Kings  xix.  29 ; 
Isa.  xxxvii.  30.  All  lands  and  houses  now  reverted  to  their 
original  owners — houses  in  walled  towns  excepted — Levit.  xxv. 
14-24,  25-28,  unless  belonging  originally  to  Levites,  Levit. 
xxv.  32-33.  All  Hebrew  slaves  were  set  at  liberty,  Levit.  xxv. 
47-53  ;  but  not  the  slaves  from  the  heathen  round  about. 
This,  like  the  sabbatical  year,  taught  but  in  stronger  language 
the  unity  and  equality  of  the  people,  and  their  dependence 
upon  and  obligations  to  God.  It  came  as  a  relief  to  poverty 
and  sufi'ering,  and  a  restorer  of  peace  and  liberty,  equalizing 
as  much  as  might  be  the  positions  and  possessions  of  the 
people,  and  binding  them  together  not  only  as  just  and 
benevolent  fellow-citizens  of  the  commonwealth,  but  as  breth- 
ren beloved  of  the  Church  of  God. 

No  ancient  lawgivers,  as  Solon,  Lycurgus,  and  Numa,  are 
to  be  compared  with  Moses.  They  formed  their  own  codes 
guided  by  the  imperfect  light  around  and  within  them,  were 
wrong  in  some  of  their  fundamental  principles  of  justice, 
government,  and  political  economy,  and  totally  ignorant  of  the 
true  God  and  true  religion.  Moses  delivered  nothing  of  him- 
self. He  pretended  to  no  inspiration ;  he  possessed  it.  He 
delivered  only  what  he  heard  from  tlie  mouth  of  God,  and 
what  he  was  immediately  taught  by  Him.  He  enunciated 
principles  of  justice,  and  doctrines  of  religion,  which  are 
perfectly  immutable   and  divine.      The  productions   of  men 


MOSES  AS  A  LEGISLATOR.  329 

cannot  be  compared  with  those  of  God.  The  codes  of  heathen 
la^vgivers  were  framed  for  their  own  nations,  and  have  waxed 
old  and  passed  away.  The  Lord  legislated  through  His 
Church  for  the  world,  and  the  laws  of  Moses  will  shed  their 
light  and  bless  mankind  to  the  end  of  time. 


330  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUBCH   OF   GOD. 


CHAPTER   XXL 

THE  GIVING  OF  THE  LAW  AT  DIFFERENT  TIMES. — THE  SIN  OF  THE  GOLBEN 
CALF. — THE  MAKING  AND  ERECTION  OP  THE  TABERNACLE. — THE  ORDI- 
NATION OP  AARON  AND  HIS  SONS. — NUMBER  AND  STATION  OP  THE 
TRIBES. — NUMBER,  STATION,  AND  CONSECRATION  OF  THE  LEVITES, — 
OFFERINGS   OF  THE   PRINCES, 

The  Church  lay  encamped  before  Sinai  eleven  months  and 
twenty  days,  receiving  the  law  as  already  described,  and  com- 
pleting her  constitution  and  order.  The  whole  was  conducted 
with  scrupulous  care  and  regularity  from  beginning  to  end, 
Ex.  xix.  1 ;  Numb.  x.  11.  First  come  the  giving  and  receiv- 
ing of  the  law,  and  the  attending  circumstances,  which  occu- 
pied above  three  months ;  for  Moses  was  twice  forty  days  alone 
with  God  in  the  mount,  and  he  ascended  in  all  six  several 
times.  He  was  first  called  up  shortly  after  the  encampment, 
and  bore  a  message  from  the  Lord  to  His  people.  "  Tell  the 
children  of  Israel,  Ye  have  seen  what  I  did  unto  the  Egyp- 
tians, and  how  I  bare  you  on  eagles'  wings  and  brought  you 
unto  myself.  Now,  therefore,  if  ye  will  obey  my  voice  indeed, 
and  keep  my  covenant,  then  ye  shall  be  a  peculiar  treasure 
unto  me  above  all  people  :  for  all  the  earth  is  mine.  And  ye 
shall  be  unto  me  a  kingdom  of  priests,  and  an  holy  nation," 
Gen.  XV.  1-21 ;  Exod.  i.-iv.  The  covenant  to  which  the  Lord 
refers  is  His  covenant  made  with  His  people  in  Abraham, 
Gen.  xvii.  1-27,  and  under  which  they  now  were.  To  this 
covenant  as  well  as  to  all  His  further  commandments.  He  re- 
quires their  renewed  assent  and  promise  of  obedience.     Moses 


THE   GIVING   OF   THE   LAW.  331 

came  down,  delivered  the  message,  and  then  ascended  a  second 
time  with  the  answer  of  the  people  :  "  All  that  the  Lord  hath 
spoken  we  wdll  do,"  The  Lord  intimated  to  him  that  He 
would  descend  in  glory  in  the  sight  of  the  people,  so  that  they 
should  hear  Him  speak  with  Moses,  and  believe  him  forever ; 
that  is,  that  Moses  was  the  servant  of  God,  and  that  the  mes- 
sages delivered  were  from  Him.  The  Lord  commanded  him 
to  go  down  and  sanctify  the  people,  and  be  ready  for  com- 
munications on  the  third  day.  On  that  day  Moses  was  called 
up  the  third  time,  and  sent  down  again  to  charge  both  priests 
and  people  "  not  to  break  through  the  bounds,  nor  touch  the 
mountaiu,  and  so,  many  of  them  perish."  When  the  thunder- 
ings  and  the  voice  of  the  trumpets  had  ceased,  and  silence 
reigned  on  the  mountain  yet  burning  with  fire,  and  the  smoke 
ascending  as  the  smoke  of  a  furnace,  God  spake  out  of  the 
thick  darkness,  and  delivered  the  ten  comandments.  "  So 
Moses  went  down  unto  the  people  and  spake  unto  them," 
Exod.  XX.  1-20;  comp.  Deut.  v.  1-5,  23-27.  At  the 
conclusion,  Moses  the  fourth  time- ascended  and  "  drew 
near  unto  the  thick  darkness  where  God  was,"  and  re- 
ceived otlier  numerous  laws,  xx.  21-22  ;  Deut.  v.  28-31 ; 
Ex.  XX.  21-26  ;  xxi.  1-36  ;  xxii.  1-31 ;  xxiii.  1-33,  ending  with 
the  promise  of  the  Angel  Jehovah  to  go  before  them,  and  of 
their  certain  establishment  in  the  promised  land.  He  was  dis- 
missed to  the  people  with  directions  in  what  manner  he  should 
return,  "  and  all  the  people  answered  with  one  voice  and  said, 
All  the  words  which  the  Lord  hath  said,  we  will  do,"  Exod. 
xxiv.  1-3.  Moses  wrote  "  all  the  words  of  the  Lord  "  in  a 
book,  which  he  called  "  the  book  of  the  covenant,"  the  book 
containing  God's  covenant  of  old  with  His  people,  and  all  the 
commandments,  ordinances,  and  promises  in  illustration  and 
confirmation  thereof,  which  God  had  just  delivered  to  him  in 
the  mount.  Afterwards  he  caused  the  people  to  renew  the 
covenant  with  appropriate  sacrifices  and  religious  worship. 
"  And  Moses  took  half  of  the  blood  and  put  it  in  basins,  and 
half  of  the  blood  he  sprinkled  on  the  altar,"  and  "  read  the 
book  of  the  covenant  in  the  audience  of  the  people,  and  they 
said,  All  that  the  Lord  hath  said  we  will  do,  and  be  obedient." 


332  THE  HISTOET  OF  THE  CHUECH  OP    GOD. 

Then  he  "  took  the  blood  "  (the  other  half)  "  and  sprinkled  it 
on  the  people  " — he  "  sprinkled  both  the  book  and  all  the 
people,"  Heb.  ix.  19 — and  said,  "  Behold  the  blood  of  the  cov- 
enant, which  the  Lord  hath  made  with  you  concerning  all 
these  words."  This  blood  was  the  blood  of  atonement  and 
reconciliation,  according  to  the  testimony  of  the  Apostle  Panl; 
"  he  took  the  blood  and  sprinkled  both  the  book  and  the 
people  ;  and  almost  all  things  are  by  the  law  purged  with  blood, 
and  without  shedding  of  blood  is  no  remission,"  Heb.  ix. 
18-22.  After  the  renewal  of  the  covenant,  Moses  ascended  the 
mount  for  the  fifth  time,  taking  with  him  Aaron,  Nadab, 
Abihu,  and  the  seventy  elders.  They  saw  the  God  of  Israel 
in  His  glory,  and  ate  and  drank  of  sacrifices  before  Him,  but 
drew  not  near  into  the  higher  part  of  the  mount  where  God 
was.  But  "  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Come  up  unto  me  into 
the  mount,  and  be  there,  and  I  will  give  thee  tables  of  stone, 
and  a  law  and  commandments  which  I  have  written,  that  thou 
may  est  teach  them.  And  Moses  went  into  the  midst  of  the 
cloud,  and  was  in  the  mount  forty  days  and  forty  nights," 
Exod.  xxiv.  9-18.  He  received  the  pattern  of  the  tabernacle 
and  all  things  pertaining  thereto  ;  the  commandments  concern- 
ing the  priesthood  of  Aaron  and  his  sons,  and  their  garments  ; 
and  concerning  Bezaleel  and  Aholiab,  appointed  and  inspired 
of  God  to  make  all  these  things.  The  sabbath  was  also  com- 
manded anew.  "  And  God  gave  unto  Moses,  when  He  had 
made  an  end  of  communing  with  him  upon  Mount  Sinai,  two 
tables  of  testimony,  tables  of  stone,  written  with  the  finger  of 
God,"  Exod.  xxv.-xxxi. ;  Deut.  ix.  10-21 ;  and  in  the  same  mo- 
ment made  known  to  him  the  sin  of  the  golden  calf:  "  Go  get 
thee  down  ;  for  the  people  which  thou  broughtest  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt  liave  corrupted  themselves,  they  have  turned 
aside  quickly  out  of  the  way  which  I  commanded  them  :  they 
have  made  them  a  molten  calf,  and  have  worshipped  it,  and 
have  sacrificed  thereunto  and  said,  These  be  thy  gods,  O  Israel, 
which  have  brought  thee  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,"  Exod. 
xxxii.  1-8  ;  Ps.  cvi.  19-21 — a  sin  committed  with  the  wonders 
of  Egypt  and  of  the  wilderness  fresh  in  their  memories,  with 
the  pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire  over  them,  the  glory  of  the  Lord 


THE  WOESHIP  OF  THE  GOLDEN  CALF.  333 

like  devouring  flames  on  the  top  of  the  mountain  before  them, 
out  of  which  only  a  few  weeks  before,  they  had  heard  the  voice 
of  God,  and  to  whose  commands  then  delivered  they  had  re- 
newed their  vows  of  universal  obedience  !  This  stiff-necked 
people  the  Lord  proposed  to  consume,  and  to  make  of  Moses 
and  his  house  a  great  nation  in  their  stead  :  but  the  meek  and 
holy  man  intercedes  for  and  saves  the  people,  Exod.  xxxii. 
1-14  ;  2  Chron.  xxxii.  31 ;  Deut.  viii.  1-6  ;  Luke  xxii.  31-32  ; 
1  Pet.  i,  1-5.  Descending  he  surprises  them  in  their  trans- 
gression, breaks  the  tables  of  the  law  before  their  eyes,  melts 
the  calf,  grinds  it  to  powder,  strews  it  upon  the  water,  and 
makes  them  drink  their  god  !  He  prays  for  Aaron,  "  for  the 
Lord  was  very  angry  with  Aaron  to  have  destroyed  him," 
Deut.  ix.  20  ;  and  finally  inflicts  punishment  upon  the  people. 
It  was  upon  this  occasion  that  the  tribe  of  Levi  responded  to 
the  call  of  Moses,  "  Who  is  on  the  Lord's  side  ?  "  and  in  the 
fear  with  which  they  feared  God,  and  in  their  zeal  to  vindicate 
His  glory,  "  they  did  not  acknowledge  their  brethren,  nor 
know  their  own  children."  They  put  every  man  his  sword 
by  his  side,  going  out  from  gate  to  gate  of  the  camp  ;  and 
there  fell  that  day  of  the  guilty  Israelites  found  abroad,  about 
tlu'ce  thousand  men.  By  this  act  of  devotion  in  the  midst  of 
general  defection,  the  Levites  consecrated  themselves  to  the 
Lord,  and  received  the  blessing  from  God,  "  of  a  covenant  of 
life  and  peace  "  in  the  ministry  of  His  Church,  Deut.  xxxii. 
8-10,  Mai.  ii.  4-6.  On  the  morrow  Moses  renews  his  suppli- 
cations, and  in  his  desires  for  the  salvation  of  Israel  ofters 
himself,  if  it  were  possible,  a  sacrifice  in  their  stead  :  "  Oh  ! 
this  people  have  sinned  a  great  sin,  and  have  made  them  gods 
of  gold  :  yet  now  if  Thou  wilt  forgive  their  sin  :  and  if  not, 
blot  me,  I  pray  Thee,  out  of  Thy  book  which  Thou  hast  writ- 
ten." In  which  desire  he  is  imitated  fifteen  hundred  years 
after,  by  the  Apostle  Paul,  "  I  have  great  heaviness  and  con- 
tinual sorrow  in  my  heart,  for  I  could  wish  myself  accursed 
from  Christ  for  my  brethren,  my  kinsmen  according  to  the 
flesh,  who  are  Israelites,"  Rom.  ix.  1-4.  The  self-sacrifice 
which  brought  the  great  Kedeemer  from  heaven  to  earth,  here 
exhibits  itself  in  His  ministers.     Christ  is  one,  and  His  people 


334  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

are  one  forever.  The  Lord  answered  Moses :  "  whosoever  hath 
sinned  against  nie  him  will  I  blot  out  of  my  book ; "  and, 
although  the  people  have  been  punished,  "  nevertheless  in  the 
day  when  I  visit,"  {i.  e.,  again,)  "  I  will  visit  their  sin  upon 
them,"  which  also  came  to  -pass,  Exod.  xxxii.  1-35. 

Moses  removed  his  tabernacle  of  judgment  without  the 
camp,  and  went  into  it  in  the  sight  of  the  people.  The  cloudy 
pillar  descended  and  stood  at  the  door  of  the  tabernacle,  and 
the  Lord  talked  with  Moses  :  for  "  the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses 
face  to  face  as  a  man  speaketh  unto  his  friend,"  and  at  Moses' 
prayer  the  Lord  withdrew  His  threatening,  that  He  won  Id  not 
go  again  with  the  people,  and  also  promised  Moses  to  show 
him  His  glory,  Exod.  xxxiii.  1-23.  Moses  ascended  the  mount 
for  the  sixth  and  last  time  with  the  new  tables  of  stone,  like 
the  first,  prepared  by  God's  command.  The  Lord  put  him  in 
a  clift  of  the  rock,  covered  him  with  His  hand  while  He  passed 
by,  and  proclaimed  the  name  of  the  Lord.  When  His  face 
had  passed  by,  He  withdrew  His  hand,  and  Moses  looked 
after  God,  and  saw  His  glory,  and  made  haste  and  bowed  his 
liead  and  worshipped.  Other  forty  days  and  forty  nights,  he 
spent  with  God  in  the  mount  in  supplications  and  prayers  for 
the  people  (Deut.  ix.  18),  and  in  receiving  further  communica- 
tions, more  fully  made  known  afterwards  from  the  tabernacle 
when  the  Lord  had  entered  into  it.  A  second  time  the  Lord 
wrote  with  His  finger  the  commandments  upon  the  two  tables 
of  stone,  and  gave  them  to  Moses.  The  Lord  impressed  some- 
what of  His  glory  upon  the  face  of  Moses,  "  for  the  skin  of 
Moses'  face  shone,  though  he  wist  not  of  it,"  and  Aaron  and 
the  people  were  afraid  to  come  nigh  him.  Therefore,  he  ever 
after  covered  his  face  with  a  veil  when  he  spake  to  them  ;  but 
when  he  went  into  the  tabernacle  into  the  presence  of  God,  he 
took  off  the  veil,  Exod.  xxxiv.  1-35. 

Second  in  time  and  order  come  the  making  and  erection 
of  the  tabernacle,  and  all  pertaining  thereto,  and  the  priests' 
garments  according  to  the  pattern  given  in  the  mount.  "When 
he  came  down,  Moses  made  known  what  materials  were  want- 
ed, and  called  for  free-will  offerings,  which  the  people  freely 
and  abundantly  contributed.     Bezaleel,  Aholiab,  and  all  the 


THE   MAKING   AND   EEECTION   OF   THE   TABERNACLE,         335 

wise-hearted  men  raised  up  by  God  to  aid  them,  went  diH- 
gently  forward  and  completed  the  work  in  every  part,  Exod. 
xxv.-xxxix.  When  completed,  at  God's  command,  the  taber- 
nacle was  set  up  in  order.  "  So  Moses  finished  the  work. 
Then  a  cloud,"  (the  pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire,)  "  covered  the 
tent  of  the  congregation  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  filled  the 
tabernacle.  Moses  was  not  able  to  enter  into  the  tent  of  the 
congi'egation,  because  the  cloud  abode  thereon,  and  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  filled  the  tabernacle."  This  was  the  hour  that  the 
Lord,  leaving  the  mount,  descended,  and  took  possession  of 
this  "  worldly  sanctuary,"  made  with  hands — the  figure  of  a 
greater  and  more  perfect  tabernacle  not  made  with  hands — 
even  "  heaven  itself,"  Heb.  ix.  1-28.  He  entered  the  Holy 
of  Holies,  and  enthroned  Himself  upon  the  mercy-seat ;  then 
shone  within  the  veil  the  Shekinah,  the  symbol  of  His  pres- 
ence, "  and  the  cloud  of  the  Lord  was  upon  the  tabernacle  by 
day,  and  fire  was  on  it  by  night,  in  the  sight  of  all  the  house 
of  Israel,  throughout  all  their  journeys,"  Exod.  xl.  1-38.  The 
word  "  Shekinah  "  does  not  occur  in  Scripture,  but  is  used  to 
express  the  dwelling,  or  abiding  presence  of  God  with  His 
people.  This  symbol  of  God's  presence  continued  while  the 
tabernacle  lasted,  and  when  Solomon  built  the  temple,  (fash- 
ioned after  the  tabernacle,  and  according  to  special  directions 
divinely  communicated  to  David,)  it  took  up  its  abode  in  the 
Holy  of  Holies,  and  did  not  finally  depart  until  Kebuchadnez- 
zar  utterly  destroyed  that  temple  and  carried  all  its  furniture 
away  to  Babylon.  It  never  shone  in  the  Holy  of  Holies  in 
the  second  temple. 

From  the  holy  place  the  Lord  continued  the  communica- 
tion of  His  law  to  Moses,  enlarging  also  what  had  previously 
been  briefly  delivered  upon  the  mount.  As  the  tabernacle 
was  in  readiness  for  divine  service.  He  prescribed  particularly 
the  various  kinds  of  sacrifices  and  off'erings  to  be  brought,  the 
manner  thereof,  and  what  share  the  priests  should  have  in  all. 
Compare  Exod.  xxxiv,  1-35  ;  Levit.  i.  1-2  ;  and  i.-vi.,  vii. 
37-38.  Nothing  was  now  wanting  that  the  sacrifices  of  God's 
house  should  begin,  but  the  consecration  of  the  priesthood  and 
the  discharge  of  their  duties.     Accordingly,  third  in  time  and 


336  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHURCH    OF    GOD. 

order  comes  the  consecration  of  Aaron  and  his  sous,  which 
Moses  accomplished  in  the  presence  of  the  people  at  the  taber- 
nacle, with  all  the  sacrifices  and  ceremonies  thereto  appertain- 
ing. Aaron  and  his  sons,  after  the  seven  days  of  their  conse- 
cration were  over,  entered  the  eighth  day  on  their  dnties. 
When  Aaron  had  offered  his  first  offerings  for  himself  and  the 
people,  as  the  Lord  appointed,  and  he  and  Moses  came  out  of 
the  tabernacle  and  blessed  the  people,  the  glory  of  the  Lord 
appeared  unto  all  the  jieople.  There  came  fj:e  out  from  be- 
fore tlie  Lord  and  consumed  upon  the  altar  the  burnt-offering 
and  the  fat,  which  when  all  the  people  saw,  they  shouted  and 
fell  on  their  faces,"  Levit.  viii.-ix.  This  was  the  sacred  fire, 
which  was  never  to  be  allowed  to  go  out,  and  with  which  all 
the  offerings  of  the  Lord  should  be  made. 

But  this  glorious  beginning  of  priestly  service  was  shortly 
and  sadly  interrupted  by  the  death  of  Nadab  and  Abihu,  sons 
of  Aaron,  who  presumptuously  offered  incense  with  strange 
fire,  not  commanded  of  the  Lord.  "  And  there  went  out  fire 
from  the  Lord,  and  devoured  them,  and  they  died  before 
the  Lord" — a  warning  to  priests  and  people  that  none  pre- 
sume to  approach  God  but  in  His  own  prescribed  way,  as 
Moses  explained  the  judgment  to  Aaron,  "  This  is  it  that  the 
Lord  spake,  saying,  I  will  be  sanctified  in  them  that  come  nigh 
me,  and  before  all  the  people  I  will  be  glorified.  And  Aaron 
held  his  peace,"  Levit.  x.  1-11.  On  this  occasion  "  the  Lord 
spake  unto  Aaron,  saying,  Do  not  drink  wine  nor  strong  drink, 
thou  nor  thy  sons  with  thee,  when  ye  go  into  the  tabernacle 
of  the  congregation,  lest  ye  die  :  it  shall  be  a  statute  forever 
throughout  your  generations."  And  why  ?  In  order  that  they 
be  not  incapacitated,  by  intoxication  or  imdue  excitement,  for 
the  sober,  intelligent,  and  appropriate  discharge  of  their  holy 
and  official  duties.  "  And  that  ye  may  put  a  difference  be- 
tween holy  and  unholy,  and  between  unclean  and  clean  :  and 
that  ye  may  teach  the  children  of  Israel  all  the  statutes  which 
the  Lord  hath  spoken  unto  them  by  the  hand  of  Moses."  This 
command  following  immediately  after  the  death  of  Nadab  and 
Abihu,  gives  foundation  for  the  supposition  that  they  had  in- 
dulged too  freely  in  wine,  and  the  supposition  is  further  sus- 


NUMBER   AND    STATION   OF   THE   TKIBES.  337 

tained  by  the  tbreateniDg,  "  lest  ye  die,"  that  is,  for  your  pre- 
sumptuous sin,  as  did  your  sons  and  brethren,  Levit.  x.  1-20. 
Drunkenness  is  an  odious  and  soul-destroying  vice,  and  most 
of  all  so,  when  found  in  the  ministry  of  God.  Comp.  Ezck. 
xliv.  21 ;  Prov.  xx.  1 ;  xxii.  30-31 ;  Isa.  xxviii.  7 ;  Ivi.  10-12 ; 
1  Tim.  iii.  1-3,  8  ;  v.  23 ;  Titus  i.  7. 

^Numerous  laws  were  now  delivered  from  the  tabernacle  to 
Moses  and  Aaron,  j)artly  ecclesiastical,  partly  civil,  relating 
to  the  food,  the  diseases,  the  purifications,  the  marriages,  the 
crimes,  the  customs,  the  sacred  places,  times,  and  seasons,  the 
vows,  etc.,  of  the  people,  closing  with  an  enumeration  of  the 
blessings  and  curses  which  the  Lord  would  bring  upon  tlic 
obedient  and  disobedient.     See  Levit.  xi.-xxvii. 

Fourth  in  time  and  order  come  the  final  arrangements  and 
commands  preparatory  to  leaving  Sinai.  First,  the  numbering 
of  the  people  :  "  every  male  from  twenty  years  old  and  up- 
ward :  all  that  are  able  to  go  forth  to  war  in  Israel ; "  and 
none  others.  "Women,  children,  minors,  old  men  unable  to  go 
to  war,  and  the  whole  tribe  of  Levi,  were  excluded.  The  cen- 
sus of  the  twelve  tribes,  of  men  of  war,  amounted  to  603,550, 
l!^umb.  i.  1-54.  The  design  of  the  census  seems  to  have  been 
to  bring  about  a  perfect  separation  of  the  tribes,  ascertain  their 
relative  strength,  and  assign  them  their  positions  in  the  en- 
campment :  "  And  the  children  of  Israel  shall  pitch  their  tents 
every  man  by  his  own  camp,  and  every  man  by  his  own  stand- 
ard throughout  their  hosts.  But  the  Levites  shall  pitch  round 
about  the  tabernacle  of  testimony,  that  there  be  no  wrath  upon 
the  congregation  of  the  children  of  Israel :  and  the  Levites 
shall  keep  the  charge  of  the  tabernacle  of  testimony."  Accord- 
ingly, the  twelve  tribes  were  formed  into  a  hollow  square — 
the  tabernacle  occupying  the  centre — with  four  divisions  of 
three  tribes  each,  each  tribe  being  under  the  command  of  its 
own  captains,  appointed  by  the  Lord,  and  each  division  under  a 
prominent  tribe.  The  station  of  the  first  division  was  east  of 
the  tabernacle,  and  consisted  of  Judah,  Issachar,  and  Zebulun. 
The  station  of  the  second  division  was  on  the  south,  and  con- 
sisted of  Eeuben,  Simeon,  and  Gad.  The  station  of  the  third 
was  west,  consisting  of  Ephraim,  Manasseh,  and  Benjamin  ; 
22 


338  THE  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

and  the  station  of  the  fourth  was  north,  consisting  of  Dan, 
Asher,  and  Naphtali.  "  Every  tribe  had  its  own  standard,  with 
the  ensign  of  their  father's  house,"  ISTumb.  ii.  1-34.  The  num- 
bering and  station  of  the  twelve  tribes  being  completed,  in  the 
second  place,  followed  the  setting  apart  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  to 
the  services  of  the  sanctuary,  the  reasons  for  which,  in  addition 
to  that  already  assigned,  Deut.  xxxii.  8-10  ;  Mai.  ii.  1-6,  are 
thus  given  by  the  Lord  to  Moses :  "  And  I,  behold  I  have 
taken  the  Levites  from  among  the  children  of  Israel,  instead  of 
all  the  first-born  among  the  children  of  Israel ;  therefore  the 
Levites  shall  be  mine,  because  all  the  first-born  are  mine  :  for 
on  the  day  that  I  sniote  all  the  first-born  in  the  land  of  Egypt 
I  hallowed  unto  me  all  the  first-born  in  Israel,  both  man  and 
beast :  mine  shall  they  be  :  I  am  the  Lord.  Bring  the  tribe 
of  Levi  near  and  present  them  before  Aaron  the  priest,  that 
they  may  minister  unto  him.  And  they  shall  keep  his  charge, 
and  the  charge  of  the  whole  congregation,  before  the  taber- 
nacle of  the  congregation,  to  do  the  service  of  the  tabernacle. 
And  they  shall  keep  all  the  instruments  of  the  tabernacle  of 
the  congregation,  and  the  charge  of  the  children  of  Israel,  to 
do  the  service  of  the  tabernacle.  And  thou  shalt  give  the 
Levites  unto  Aaron  and  to  his  sons  :  they  are  wholly  given 
unto  him  out  of  the  children  of  Israel.  And  thou  shalt  appoint 
Aaron  and  his  sons  and  they  shall  wait  on  their  priests'  ofiice  : 
and  the  stranger  that  cometh  nigh  shall  be  put  to  death,  Numb, 
iii.  1-51 ;  Exod.  xii.  13-16. 

To  carry  this  order  into  effect,  the  males  of  the  tribe  of 
Levi  from  "  a  month  old  and  upward  were  numbered,  accord- 
ing to  the  three  houses,  Gershom,  Kohath,  and  Merari,  The 
priests  were  of  the  house  of  Kohath,  and  of  the  family  of 
Aaron  alone  ;  the  rest  of  the  families  of  Kohath  were  Levites. 
There  were  7,500  Gershonites,  8,600  Kohathites,  and  6,200 
Merarites,  all  under  their  respective  chiefs  appointed  by  the 
Lord,  and  making  a  total  of  22,300.  In  Kumb.  iii.  39,  the 
whole  number  of  Levites  is  stated  to  be  22,000,  that  is,  300  less 
than  the  addition  of  the  census  of  each  of  the  houses ;  and 
22,000  is  the  exact  number  :  for  when  directly  after,  the  first- 
born of  the  children  of  Israel  were  numbered,  they  amounted 


NUMBER   AKD   STATION    OF   THE   LEVITES.  330 

to  22,273,  and  this  overplus  of  273  the  Lord  ordered  to  be  re- 
deemed by  the  cliildren  of  Israel,  being  due  to  the  Lord,  at  five 
shekels  apiece,  and  tlie  money  paid  to  Aaron  and  his  sons. 
The  discrepancy  between  the  two  totals  is  removed  by  the  sup- 
position of  an  error  in  the  enumeration,  either  of  the  Kohatli- 
ites,  (Numb.  iii.  28,)  or  of  the  Gershonites,  (vs.  22,)  one 
Hebrew  numeral  letter  being  mistaken  in  the  text  for  anotlier 
very  much  of  the  same  form,  but  differing  in  power  by  the 
exact  number  300.  The  cattle  also  of  the  Levites  were  taken 
instead  of  the  firstlings  of  the  cattle  of  the  children  of  Israel. 

The  enumeration  and  substitution  being  effected,  the 
Levites  and  priests  have  their  stations  assigned  them,  with- 
in the  hollow  square,  and  around  the  tabernacle,  in  ditfererjt 
divisions  :  the  Gershonites  behind  the  tabernacle  westward  ; 
the  Kohathites  southward ;  the  Merarites  northward ;  and 
Moses  and  Aaron,  Avith  his  sons  the  priests,  before  the  taber- 
nacle eastward.  The  command  of  the  three  divisions  of  the 
Levites  was  given  to  priests  :  Eleazar  the  son  of  Aaron,  com- 
manded the  Kohathites ;  and  Ithamar,  the  Gershonites  and 
the  Merarites,  Numb.  iii.  32  ;  iv.  4,  28,  33.  The  services  of  the 
several  divisions  were  also  assigned.  "When  the  cloud  lifted, 
and  the  camp  was  to  set  forward,  Aaron  and  his  sons  the 
priests  moved  out  and  covered  the  furniture  of  the  tabernacle 
that  of  the  holy  place  and  that  of  the  most  holy,  the  ark,  the 
veil,  the  table  of  shew-bread,  the  candlesticks,  the  altar  of  in- 
cense, and  the  instruments  of  ministry  belonging  to  them  ;  and 
the  tabernacle  was  left  empty.  In  like  manner,  they  prepared 
the  altar  of  sacrifice  and  laver  in  the  court  before  the  taber- 
nacle, and  the  instruments  of  service.  When  everything  was 
in  readiness,  the  Kohathites  came  in  and  took  up  the  most 
holy  things  of  the  tabernacle  and  the  court,  and  bore  them  for- 
ward under  the  command  of  Eleazar.  They  were  not  to  enter 
in,  to  see,  or  touch  anything  until  made  ready  by  the  priests, 
under  pain  of  death,  Numb.  iii.  27-32  ;  iv.  1-20.  The  taber- 
nacle and  court  being  emptied  of  the  holy  furniture,  then  came 
the  Gershonites  under  Ithamar,  who  took  down  the  coverings 
and  hangings,  both  of  the  tabernacle  and  the  court,  their  cords, 
and  the  instruments  of  their  service,  which  being  properly  pre- 


340  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

pared  for  carriage,  were  borne  by  them,  ISTumb.  iii.  21-26  ;  iv. 
21-28.  Nothing  was  now  left  but  the  bare  wood-work — the 
bars,  boards,  sockets,  and  pillars  of  the  tabernacle — "  the  pil- 
lars of  the  court  round  about,  their  sockets,  pins,  their  cords 
with  their  instruments,  and  their  service."  Lastly,  came  the 
Merarites,  (also  under  Ithamar,)  and  taking  all  these  down  in 
order,  bore  them  away,  Numb.  iii.  33-37 ;  iv.  29-33.  The 
family  of  Merari  was  the  smallest  of  the  three,  but,  having  the 
greatest  number  of  working  men,  it  had  the  heaviest  part  of 
the  service  assigned  to  it.  Wagons  were  afterwards  allowed 
to  the  Gershonites  and  Merarites  to  aid  in  transporting  the 
heavy  materials  of  the  tabernacle  and  court,  but  double  the 
number  to  the  Merarites,  Levit.  vii.  2-9.  The  whole  number 
of  the  Levites  was  22,000 ;  of  these,  8,580  were  over  thirty  and 
under  fifty,  men  of  service,  and  13,420  too  young  or  too  old. 
This  8,580  was  a  large,  but  not  too  large  a  number  to  be  occu- 
])ied  directly  in  attending  upon  the  worship  and  service  of  the 
tabernacle,  and  in  promoting  the  spiritual  interests  of  the 
people.  To  this  number  must  be  added  the  priests,  who  were 
at  tbis  time  very  few — three  only  (no  others  are  mentioned) — 
Aaron  the  high-priest,  and  his  sons  Eleazar  and  Ithamar, 
sufficient  however  to  j^reside  over  and  conduct  the  worship 
and  service  of  the  tabernacle. 

These  arrangements  <joncerniiig  the  Levites  being  com- 
pleted, nothing  remains  but  to  consecrate  them  to  their  office 
in  the  manner  ordained  of  God,  Numb.  viii.  1-26.  First,  their 
cleansing :  "  And  the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  saying,  Take 
the  Levites  from  among  the  children  of  Israel  and  cleanse 
them  :  sprinkle  the  water  of  purifying  upon  them,  and  let 
them  shave  all  their  flesh,  and  let  them  wash  their  clothes, 
and  £0  make  themselves  clean."  Second,  their  substitution  : 
then  "  let  them  take  two  bullocks,  a  sin-offering  and  a  burnt- 
offering,  and  a  meat-offering  of  flour  and  oil ;  and  bring  them 
before  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation,  and  gather  the  whole 
assembly  of  the  children  of  Israel  together."  The  assembly 
is  gathered.  The  Levites  advance,  and  are  presented  before 
the  Lord  ;  and  the  children  of  Israel,  by  their  representatives — 
XI  certain  number  of  elders — put  their  hands  upon  the  Levites, 


OFFERINGS   OF   THE   PKINCES.  341 

who  by  this  act  are  separated  from  the  children  of  Israel  and 
given  unto  God  in  place  of  the  first-born,  that  thej  may  exe- 
cute the  service  of  the  Lord.  Third,  their  consecration : 
Aaron  •svith  his  sons  offered  the  Levites  before  the  Lord  a 
wave-oflfering  of  the  children  of  Israel,  living  sacrifices  to  the 
Lord,  to  whose  service  they  were  now  to  be  wholly  dedicated 
in  place  of  the  first-born,  Rom.  xii.  1.  Fourth,  the  atonement 
made  for  them  :  the  Levites  laid  their  hands  upon  the  heads 
of  the  bullocks,  and  Aaron  and  his  sons  offered  one  for  a  sin- 
offering,  and  the  other  for  a  burnt-offering  unto  the  Lord,  to 
make  atonement  for  the  Levites.  It  was  impossible  for  the 
great  body  of  the  Levites  to  approach  the  bullocks  and  lay 
their  hands  upon  their  heads,  confessing  their  sins  and  conse- 
crating themselves  to  God  ;  it  must  therefore  have  been  done 
representatively,  a  certain  number  laying  on  their  hands  for 
the  whole.  The  purification,  the  substitution,  the  consecration, 
and  the  atonement  by  sacrifice,  being  all  performed,  the  conse- 
crated tribe  entered  upon  its  duties  ;  the  Levites  went  in  to  do 
their  service  in  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation  before 
Aaron  and  his  sons. 

The  beginning  of  the  term  of  service  of  the  Levites  was 
now  altered  from  thirty  to  twenty-five  years  of  age.  Is  umb. 
viii.  23-26  ;  iv.  3  ;  and  again,  in  the  time  of  David,  to  twenty 
years,  1  Chron.  xxiii.  1-3,  21-32. 

Moses  had  received  and  delivered  the  law,  set  up  the  taber- 
nacle, consecrated  Aaron  and  his  sons  to  the  priesthood,  and 
celebrated  the  passover,  Exod.  xl.  IT,  etc. ;  Levit.  viii.  1-36  ; 
ix.  1-21.  He  had  also  numbered  the  people  and  assigned 
them  their  stations  by  tribes  and  divisions.  In  like  manner  he 
had  numbered  the  Levites,  assigned  them  their  stations 
and  service,  consecrated  them  to  the  ministry  of  God  in  His 
tabernacle,  and  set  them  on  their  work.  The  Church  and 
commonwealth  were  organized  and  compacted  together,  and 
there  was  need  of  no  longer  delay  in  setting  forward  to  the 
possession  of  the  promised  land. 

This  long  encampment  before  Sinai,  and  all  these  wonder- 
ful communications  and  arrangements  were  worthily  closed  by 
the  solemn  worship  of  God,  and  with  appropriate  ofierings  and 


342  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF    GOD. 

sacrifices,  wliich  continued  for  the  space  of  twelve  days.  The 
twelve  princes  of  the  tribes  of  Israel,  heads  of  the  houses  of  their 
fathers,  acting  for  their  respective  tribes,  and  "  for  the  dedicat- 
ing of  the  altar,"  each  in  his  day,  presented  at  the  tabernacle 
the  same  number  and  kind  of  sacrifices  and  offerings,  and  in 
the  regular  order  of  divisions  and  tribes,  beginning  with  those 
on.  the  east  and  ending  with  those  on  the  north.  There  were 
thirty-six  bullocks  and  t-wo  hundred  and  twenty-eight  sheep 
and  goats  sacrificed  in  the  twelve  days.  The  whole  service 
may  be  regarded  as  an  acknowledgment  of  God  as  the  God  of 
the  tribes  of  Israel,  and  as  a  consecration  of  themselves  to  Him, 
Levit.  vii.  1-38. 

The  encampment  .occuj)ied  a  large  tract  of  country,  with 
ample  spaces  between  each  division,  both  of  the  tribes  and  of 
the  priests  and  Levites,  so  that  all  confusion  was  prevented. 
The  estimate  of  twelve  miles  square  for  the  area  does  not  ajD- 
pear  to  be  too  great.  The  removal  of  three  millions  of  people 
from  Egypt  to  Canaan,  consuming  forty  years,  with  their  gov- 
ernment meanwhile,  was  a  vast  undertaking.  As  a  commander 
and  leader  of  the  people,  Moses  is  without  an  equal.  It  is  the 
only  successful  exodus  of  so  great  a  number  in  the  history  of 
the  world. 

On  the  twentieth  day  of  the  second  month  in  the  second 
year,  the  cloud  was  taken  up  from  off  the  tabernacle  of  the  tes- 
timony, and  the  voice  of  the  Lord  was  heard,  saying  to  Moses, 
"  Ye  have  dwelt  long  enough  in  this  mount :  turn  you  and 
take  your  journey — go  in  and  possess  the  land  which  the  Lord 
sware  unto  your  fathers  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  to  give 
unto  them  and  to  their  seed  after  them,"  Deut  i.  6-8  ;  Numb. 
X.  1-13. 


ERECTION   OF   HOUSES   FOR   PrBLIC   WORSHIP.  343 


CHAPTEE  XXII. 

THE  ERECTION  AND   SUPPORT  OP  HOUSES  FOR  PUBLIC  WORSHIP. — THE  SUP- 
PORT OP  THE  MINISTRY, 

While  the  cloiid  is  lifting  and  tlie  encampment  breaking 
up,  we  may  dispose  of  two  subjects  which  for  tlie  first  time 
make  their  appearance  in  the  history  :  first,  tlie  erection  and 
support  of  houses  for  public  worship  ;  and  second,  the  support 
of  the  ministry  in  the  Church, 

First :  the  erection  and  supj)ort  of  houses  for  public  wor- 
ship. Just  so  soon  as  men  increased  and  settled  permanently 
in  cities,  villages,  and  country  places,  houses  of  worship 
became  matters  of  convenience  and  necessity,  and  without 
doubt  were  erected.  There  were  places  for  worship  by 
sacrifices  in  the  family  of  Adam,  whither  Cain  and  Abel 
resorted  ;  in  that  of  Koah  after  the  flood  ;  in  that  of  Job, 
wliere  he  made  intercession  for  his  family  and  friends  ;  in  the 
household  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  ;  in  that  of  Jetliro  in 
Midian  ;  in  the  open  air,  by  altars  of  earth  or  unhewn  stone. 
Melchisedek  might  have  had  a  house  of  worship  in  Salem. 
But  the  first  structure  on  record  for  public  worship  in  the 
Church,  was  "  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation,"  before 
Sinai,  in  the  year  of  the  world  2514,  and  before  Christ  1490, 
which  lasted  486  years.  Then  the  first  temple  was  built  by 
Solomon,  and  lasted  416  years,  or  to  B.  C.  588,  when  it  was 
destroyed  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  lay  in  ruins  some  seventy 
years.  The  second  temple  was  built  by  Ezra  and  his  com- 
panions, B.  C.  515.  It  was  destroyed  by  the  Eomans  under 
Titus,  70  years  after  Christ,  having  stood  585  years.     From 


844  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH    OF   GOD. 

the  erection  of  tlie  tabernacle  in  tlie  wilderness  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  second  temple,  (omitting  the  TO  years  of  desolation.) 
that  is,  for  1487  years  the  visible  Church  possessed  but  one 
great  central  tabernacle  and  temple  for  the  public  worship  of 
the  whole  people.  Yet,  neither  tabernacle  nor  temple  was 
designed,  like  modern  houses  of  worship,  to  hold  under  cover 
the  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands,  and,  on  the  great  feasts, 
the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  worshippers.  The  priests  only 
entered  the  holy  place  and  the  Holy  of  Holies.  The  courts 
around  the  tabernacle  and  temple  were  large.  There  the 
multitudes  assembled  and  worshipped ;  and  all  were  in  turn 
accommodated,  for  the  gates  of  Zion  stood  open  every  day 
from  one  year's  end  to  another,  and  God's  worship  never 
ceased. 

Besides  this'  house  for  all  the  Church,  the  spiritual  affection 
and  necessities  of  the  Lord's  people,  in  their  own  land  and  in 
all  lands  where  they  dwelt,  called  them  together,  and  obliged 
the  erection  of  places  for  prayer,  and  houses  for  social  and 
public  worship  :  "  proseuchai"  and  synagogues,  already  referred 
to.  Thus  the  Lord  was  j^ublicly  honored,  and  worshipped 
throughout  His  visible  Church. 

How  were  the  tabernacle,  the  first  and  second  temples,  and 
the  synagogues,  built  and  supported  by  the  Church  ? 

The  tabernacle,  built  at  the  command  of  God,  was  suiDported 
and  kept  in  repair  at  the  charge  of  the  people.  It  is  the  will 
and  command  of  God  that  His  people  should  assemble  and 
worship  Him  publicly,  erect  houses  for  their  accommoda- 
tion, and  sustain  them  out  of  the  abundance  which  He  gives 
them  ;  it  is  all  "  an  offering  unto  the  Lord."  The  tabernacle 
was  built,  first,  by  "  free-will  offerings,"  hy  voluntary  contri- 
butions of  money,  materials,  or  labor  ;  such  only  the  Lord 
called  for :  "  and  they  came  every  one  whose  heart  stirred  him 
up,  and  every  one  whom  his  spirit  made  willing,  both  men 
and  women,  and  brought  the  Lord's  offering  in  the  work  of 
the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation,"  Exod.  xxxv.  Second,  by 
the  poll-tax  of  half  a  shekel  for  every  man  from  twenty  years 
old  and  over,  which  the  Lord  commanded  Moses  to  levy  as 
"  an  atonement  for  their  souls,  an  offering  unto  the  Lord  for 


ERECTION   OF    HOUSES   FOR   PUBLIC   WORSHIP.  345 

the  service  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation,"  Exod.  xxviii. 
25-28.  Third,  hj  tlie  most  valuable  spoils,  after  the  wars  of 
judgment  with  the  heathen  began  ;  and  this  source  failed  not 
while  the  Church  was  called  to  war.  Said  the  Lord  to  Joshua : 
"  All  the  silver,  and  gold,  and  vessels  of  brass  and  iron  "  (of  the 
spoils  of  the  conquered  nations),  "  are  consecrated  unto  the 
Lord  :  they  shall  come  into  the  treasury  of  the  Lord,"  Josh. 
vi.  19  ;  1  Kings,  vii.  51. 

The  first  temple  was  built  and  sustained  precisely  as  the 
tabernacle  had  been.  David  collected  the  money  and  mate- 
rials, and  Solomon,  who  built  the  temple,  disbursed  the  one 
and  used  the  other.  There  were  the  spoils  of  enemies  and  the 
presents  of  other  nations,  1  Chron.  xviii.  1-11  ;  1  Kings  vii. 
15-21 ;  1  Chron.  xxvi.  24-27 ;  1  Sam.  viii.  1-14 ;  1  Chron. 
xxii.  1-6  ;  xxix.  1-5.  There  were  the  free-will  offerings  both 
of  David  and  Solomon ;  of  the  princes,  rulers,  captains,  and 
the  people  generally,  1  Chron.  xxviii.  1-21 ;  xxix.  1-9,  and 
there  was  the  poll-tax,  the  standing  income  of  the  house  of 
God.  There  was  no  evidence  that  any  man's  person  or 
property  was  taxed,  either  by  Church  or  state,  beyond  this 
divinely  ordered  poll-tax.  The  only  act  savoring  of  compulsion 
was  Solomon's  levy  upon  the  strangers  in  the  kingdom  to 
perform  the  heavier  and  more  menial  part  of  the  work  for  the 
temple,  which  however  was  justifiable  on  the  ground  that,  as 
a  conquered  people  and  dwelling  by  sufierance  in  the  land,  the 
king  might  call  upon  them  to  furnish  the  necessary  number 
of  laborers.  Moreover,  the  levy  was  not  an  oppression,  since 
there  were  relays  of  workmen,  and  all  were  abundantly  sup- 
plied with  provisions,  and  remunerated  for  their  time  and 
labor. 

Time,  which  consumes  all  material  things,  made  its  inroads 
upon  this  temple  ;  neglect  and  injuries  fi-om  the  hand  of  man 
contributed  to  its  decay,  and  there  were  two  special  occasions 
upon  which  it  was  repaired,  and  the  expenses  of  the  repairs  on 
both  occasions  were  paid  precisely  in  the  same  way :  the 
first  in  the  reign  of  Joash,  2  Kings  xii.  1-16  ;  2  Chron.  xxiv. 
1-14,  and  the  second  in  the  reign  of  Josiah,  2  Kings  xxii.  1-7 ; 
2  Chron.  xxxiv.  1-13.     The  expenses  were  defrayed,  first,  out 


346  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

of  the  regular  poll-tax  income,  Exod.  xxx.  11-16  :  and  second, 
out  of  the  free-will  offerings,  "  the  money  that  cometh  into 
any  man's  heart  to  bring  into  the  House  of  the  Lord." 

The  second  temple  was  built  and  supported  as  were  the  tab- 
ernacle and  the  first  temple,  but  with  large  assistance  from  the 
Heathen,  as  follows  :  First,  from  free-will  offerings  ;  by  the 
kings  of  Babylon,  Cyrus,  Darius,  and  Artaxerxes,  out  of  the 
royal  treasury,  out  of  the  kings'  goods,  the  tribute  beyond  the 
river,  Ezra  vi.  14  ;  i.  1-11 ;  v.  1-17 ;  vi.  1-13  ;  yii.  11-28  ;  and 
by  the  kings  and  their  counsellors,  and  lords,  out  of  their  own 
private  property,  Ezra.  i.  7-11 ;  vi.  5  ;  vii.  15  ;  viii.  25.  In 
this  kindness  they  were  perhaps  followed  by  their  subjects, 
the  Babylonians  and  Persians,  for*  permission  was  given  by 
Artaxerxes  to  make  collections,  Ezra  vii.  16.  By  the  Israelites 
who  remained  in  Babylonia,  offerings  were  made  at  the  desire 
of  king  Cyrus,  Ezra.  i.  3-4  :  and  by  all  the  Israelites,  "  chiefs 
of  the  fathers,"  "  priests  and  people,"  Ezra  i.  4  ;  ii.  68-69  ;  ISl  eh. 
vii.  16,  70-73  ;  viii.  25  ;  Hez.  i.  1-15  ;  Zech.  i.  16-17  ;  ii.-viii. 
Second,  by  the  poll-tax  raised  on  their  return  to  Jerusalem. 
Men  of  the  world  may  contribute,  and  be  solicited  to  contri- 
bute to  the  building  and  support  of  houses  of  worship  for  the 
living  and  true  God,  and  for  the  support  of  the  worship  itself. 
Their  gold  and  silver  are  the  Lord's  no  less  than  the  gold  and 
silver  of  His  covenant  people,  and  they  are  under  obligation 
to  give  it  Avhenever  needed  for  His  service.  *  This  second 
temple,  during  the  struggle  of  the  noble  Maccaboean  i:>rinces 
for  the  salvation  of  their  religion  and  the  liberty  of  their 
people,  was  pillaged  and  desecrated  by  Autiochus  Epiphanes, 
"  the  Jews'  enemy."  It  was  so  deserted  and  neglected,  that 
the  grass  grew  in  its  courts,  and  upon  its  walls.  But  victory 
crowning  the  piety  and  patriotism  of  Judas  Maccabeus  and  his 
brothers,  he  drove  the  Syrians  from  Jerusalem,  repaired, 
refurnished,  and  fortified  the  temple,  1  Mace.  iv.  38-60  ;  2 
Mace.  vi.  1-5  ;  i.  18  ;  x.  3  ;  1  Mace.  vi.  7  ;  xiii.  53.  When 
the  Eomans  under  Pompey  assaulted  Jerusalem,  they  stormed 
the  temple,  slaughtering  numbers  in  its  courts,  and  then 
entered  into  the  Holy  of  Holies.  Josephus  Antiq.  xiv.  4,  B. 
C.  63,     Herod  the  Great   stormed  it  again,  B.  C.  37 ;    and 


ERECTION   OF   HOUSES   FOK   PUBLIC   WOESHir.  347 

after  so  long  a  time,  and  having  passed  through  sucli  vicissi- 
tudes, it  needed  repair,  which  Herod  undertook,  going  to  great 
expense,  removing  a  considerable  portion  of  the  old  materials, 
which  he  replaced  with  new,  but  preserving  the  general 
integrity  and  identity  of  the  temple.  Though  called  "  the 
temple  of  Herod,"  it  continued  to  be  and  was  the  second 
temple  to  which  Messiah  should  come.  These  rej)airs  Herod 
met  by  the  revenues  of  his  kingdom,  and  we  presume  by  the 
free-will  offerings  of  his  people,  and  by  using  the  money  in  the 
treasury  of  the  temple  so  far  as  it  was  possible.  The  repairs 
were  carried  on  from  first  to  last  for  a  number  of  years,  John 
ii.  20. 

There  is  one  other  question  under  this  head  :  How  were 
the  general  expenses  of  the  stated  service  of  the  tabernacle  and 
the  temple  defrayed  ?  for  the  lambs  for  the  morning  and 
evening  sacrifice ;  the  lambs,  kids,  heifers,  and  bullocks,  for  the 
general  sacrifices  of  the  new  moons,  and  the  great  day  of  atone- 
ment and  the  feasts ;  for  the  wood  used  on  the  altar,  and  the 
priests'  garments  and  other  things  ?  By  income  from  the 
poll-tax  of  four  shekels,  by  firstlings  of  animals,  the  free-will 
offerings,  and  dedicated  things  cast  into  the  treasury  of  the 
temple  by  persons  of  all  classes.  This  treasury  existed  in  the 
days  of  our  Lord,  Matt,  xxvii.  6  ;  Mark  xii.  41 ;  Luke  xxi.  1 ; 
John  viii.  20.  He  himself  paid  the  capitation  tax.  Matt.  xvii. 
24-27.  It  owed  its  abundance  or  its  leanness  to  the  degree 
of  interest  which  the  people  of  God  felt  in  His  service  and 
glory.  Ordinarily,  it  was  well  supplied.  On  several  occa- 
sions, when  the  treasury  of  the  state  fell  short,  the  reigning 
kings  laid  hands  upon  the  treasury  of  the  temple.  By  so  doing, 
Asa  purchased  the  assistance  of  Ben-hadad  in  his  war  against 
Israel,  1  Kings  xv.  16-22 ;  Jehoash  purchased  deliverance  from 
the  invasion  of  Ilazael,  king  of  Syria,  2  Kings  xii.  17-18,  and 
Ahaz  secured  the  alliance  of  Tiglath-pilczer,  king  of  Assyria, 
against  Kezin,  king  of  Syria,  2  Kings  xvi.  5-9.  Ilezekiah  paid 
the  sum  imposed  upon  him  by  Sennacherib,  king  of  Assyria,  2 
Kings  xviii.  13-16,  but  so  straitened  was  he  that  he  even 
"  cut  off  the  gold  from  the  doors  of  the  temple  of  the  Lord, 
and  from  the  pillars  which  Hekekiah,  king  of  Judah,  had 


348  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF    GOD. 

overlaid."  The  temple  was  used  also  (as  temples  anciently 
were)  as  a  bank,  or  place  of  deposit  for  the  money  and 
valuables  of  individuals,  all  being  inviolable  there.  The 
treasures  of  various  kinds  lodged  in  the  temple,  excited  the 
cupidity  of  the  kings  who  at  different  times  assaulted  and 
conquered  Jerusalem.  Shishak,  king  of  Egypt,  1  Kings,  xiv. 
13-14,  and  ^Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  Babylon — both  rifled  the 
temple,  2  Kings  xxiv.  10-14  ;  xxv.  9-17. 

TTie  building  of  but  one  synagogue  is  of  record  in  all  the 
Scripture  :  and  that  was  built  by  the  private  munificence  of  a 
Eoman  centurion,  Luke  vii.  1-10.  Synagogues  without 
doubt  were  built  and  paid  for  by  those  who  statedly  worshipped 
in  them,  as  house's  of  worship  are  in  our  day.  So  much  for 
the  building  and  support  of  houses  of  public  worship  in  the 
Church  before  the  coming  of  Christ. 

After  His  coming,  the  visible  Church — enlarged  by  the  ac- 
cession of  the  Gentiles — withdrew  from  the  unbelieving  Jews, 
and  the  temple,  and  their  synagogues,  and  furnished  her  own 
houses  of  worship.  No  order  for  their  erection,  or  provision  for 
their  support,  is  found  in  the  New  Testament.  ISTone  was  need- 
ed. The  duty  had  been  enjoined  upon  and  acknowledged  in 
the  Church  for  nearly  fifteen  hundred  years,  and  in  her  altered 
circumstances  it  Avas  to  be  performed  as  heretofore.  The 
temple,  and  all  appertaining  thereto,  passed  away.  This 
central  place  of  worship  for  the  'believing  world  was  no  longer 
necessary.  "  Tlie  hour  had  come  when  neither  at  the  mountain 
of  Samaria,  nor  yet  at  Jerusalem,  should  men  worship  the 
Father,"  but  in  every  place  where  believers  dwelt  they  were 
to  build  and  maintain  their  own  houses  of  worship,  after  the 
manner  of  building  and  maintaining  the  synagogues  of  old. 
This  the  Church  did.  All  the  contributions  spoken  of  in  the 
New  Testament  are  free-will  offerings — altogether  voluntary — 
for  the  Church  as  a  purely  spiritual  body,  can  exercise  a 
spiritual  authority  only.  She  has  no  power  to  impose  taxes 
of  any  kind  upon  her  members,  and  must  ever  rely  upon  their 
piety  and  principle  to  provide  for  and  maintain  houses  of 
public  worship  ;  and  yet  she  should  not  refuse  the  cooperation 


THE    SUPPOBT   OF  THE  MINISTRY.  34:9 

of  men  of  the  world  who  are  willing  of  their  liberality  to 
contribute  to  so  good  and  necessary  an  object. 

Second  :  how  was  the  ministry  of  the  Church  supported  ? 

The  same  allwise  and  merciful  God  who  ordained  a  priest- 
hood and  ministry,  ordained  also  its  temporal  support.  The 
ancient  law  of  tithes  was  enacted  to  that  end,  Gen.  xiv.  20 ; 
xxviii.  22.  It  cannot  admit  of  a  reasonable  doubt  that  priests 
from  the  beginning  "  partook  of  the  altar  ;"  that  is,  of  the  sac- 
rifices offered  thereon,  so  particularly  described  by  Moses  in  his 
laws.  Consequently,  the  law  issued  at  Sinai  for  the  temporal 
support  of  the  ministry,  introduces  no  new  principle  and  no 
new  practice.  It  is  but  the  recinactment  of  the  old  law  and 
practice  of  the  Church,  under  new  circumstances,  and  more 
amplified  and  systematized. 

1.  The  ministry  of  the  Church  was  supported  by  tithes. 
"The  tithe  of  the  land,  whether  of  the  seed  of  the  land," 
(grains  of  every  kind,)  "  or  of  tlie  fruit  of  the  tree  :  tlie  tithe 
of  thy  corn,  of  thy  wine,  and  of  thine  oil,"  Deut.  xiv.  23  ;  "  it 
is  holy  unto  the  Lord,"  Levit.  xxvii.  30-33,  ''  year  by  year," 
Deut.  xiv.  22-27.  The  self-righteous  Pharisees  tithed  mint 
and  rue,  anise  and  cumin,  and  all  manner  of  herbs,  which  our 
Lord  says  ought  to  have  been  done,  Matt,  xxiii.  23  ;  Luke  xi. 
42.-  The  law  ran  thus:  "Thou  shalt  truly  tithe  all  the 
increase  of  thy  seed,"  (whatsoever  it  be,)  "  that  the  field 
bringeth  forth,  year  by  year,"  Deut.  xiv.  22-27 ;  2  Chron. 
xxxi.  5  ;  Neh.  x.  37  ;  xiii.  12.  Also  the  tithe  of  animals : 
"  of  the  herd  or  of  the  flock,"  Levit.  xxvii.  32  ;  2  Chron.  xxxi. 
6 ;  comp.  Deut.  xiv.  23.  Every  third  year,  the  tithes  were 
brought  and  laid  up  within  the  gates  of  the  cities,  and  were 
free  not  only  to  "  the  Levites,"  but  to  "  the  stranger,  the 
fatherless,  and  the  widow."  This  year  the  people  were  not 
required  to  carry  their  tithes  exclusively  to  the  Levites  as  in 
other  years,  Deut.  xiv.  28-29  ;  xxvi.  12-13.  The  tithes  were 
paid  to  the  Levites  and  not  to  the  priests ;  but  the  Levites 
were  to  pay  out  to  the  priests  "  a  tenth  part  of  the  tithe  "  paid 
unto  them,  and  it  was  reckoned  "  a  heave-offering  unto  the 
Lord  "  on  the  part  of  the  Levites,  "  as  thougli  it  was  the  corn 
of  the  threshing  floor,  and  as  the  fulness  of  the  wine-press," 


350  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECE   OF   GOD. 

This  priestly  tenth  was  to  be  the  fat  (the  best)  of  the  tithe, 
jSTumb.  xviii.  20-32.  The  tithes,  being  the  maintenance  of  the 
priests  and  Levites,  could  be  eaten  anywhere.  "And  ye 
shall  eat  of  it  in  every  place,  ye  and  your  households  :  for  it 
is  your  reward  for  your  service  in  the  tabernacle  of  the  con- 
gregation. 

.  The  great  body  of  the  people  being  agriculturalists,  (as  they 
necessarily  are  in  all  countries,)  those  productions  and  posses- 
sions which  are  peculiar  to  that  occupation,  are  specified  in  the 
law  of  tithes.  But  this  does  not  exempt  any  of  the  Lord's 
people  who  might  be  engaged  in  other  pursuits  from  tithing 
whatever  they  possessed.  All  were  to  honor  the  Lord  with 
their  substance,  whatever  it  might  be,  and  render  in  the  tithe 
of  their  increase. 

2.  The  ministry  was  supported  by  sacrifices  and  ofierings 
of  the  people.  Since  "  the  priests  and  the  Levites  and  all  the 
tribes  of  Levi  shall  have  no  part  nor  inheritance  with  Israel, 
they  shall  eat  the  ofierings  of  the  Lord  made  by  fire  and  His 
inheritance.  The  Lord  is  their  inheritance,  as  He  hath  said 
unto  them,"  Dent  xviii.  1.  They  shall  be  maintained  by 
"sacrifice,  whether  it  be  of  ox,  or  sheep,  receiving  the 
shoulder,  the  two  cheeks  and  the  maw,"  Deut.  xviii.  3  ;  by 
the  heave-ofi'erings,  wave-offerings,  and  their  assigned  portions 
of  the  meat-offerings,  trespass-ofierings,  and  the  peace-ofi'er- 
ings,"  Levit.  vii.  29-58;  J^umb.'  vi.  19-20  ;  xviii.  8-11,19; 
by  the  skins  of  all  burnt-offerings,  offered  by  individuals,  Levit. 
vii.  8,  and  a  fifth  part  of  the  estimate  of  trespass  committed 
through  ignorance  in  holy  things  of  the  Lord,  Levit.  v.  15-16  ; 
by  the  first-frnits  of  oil,  wine,  and  wheat,  the  fruits  of  all 
manner  of  trees,  of  the  increase  of  the  field,  Levit.  xix.  23-21 ; 
Numb,  xviii.  12-13  ;  Deut.  xviii.  4 ;  Keh.  x.  37 ;  the  first- 
fruits  of  the  fleece  of  the  sheep,  Ezek.  xliv.  30  ;  2  Chron.  xxxi. 
5-7,  and  everything  devoted  (to  the  Lord)  in  Israel,  Kumb. 
xviii.  14  ;  Levit.  xxvii.  28-29  ;  by  the  firstlings  of  beasts,  and 
the  redemption  money  (five  shekels  a  head)  of  the  first-born 
of  men,  and  the  redemption  money  of  the  firstlings  of  unclean 
beasts,  Numb,  xviii.  15-18  ;  Deut.  xv.  19,  comp.  Numb.  viii. 
17 ;  Exod.  xiii.  12-13  ;  xxxiv.  19-20. 


THE   SUPPOET   OF   THE   MTNISTEY.  351 

3.  The  Cliurch  in  its  ministry  was  supported  by  real  estate 
granted  out  of  the  land  of  Canaan.  This  consisted  of  forty- 
eight  cities,  with  ample  suburbs  for  their  cattle,  goods,  and  all 
beasts,  fields,  and  vineyards,  given  by  lot  out  of  every  tribe, 
according  to  the  inheritance  of  each  :  "  From  them  that  have 
many  (cities)  ye  shall  give  many  ;  but  from  them  that  have 
few  ye  shall  give  few,"  Numb.  xxxv.  1-3-i.  The  division  of 
the  cities  between  the  priests  and  Levites,  and  their  apportion- 
ment out  of  the  diflerent  tribes,  were  as  follows  :  to  the  priests, 
thirteen  cities — out  of  Judah  and  Simeon,  nine ;  out  of  Ben- 
jamin, four.  The  Lord  gave  them  cities  near  to  Jerusalem^ 
the  place  of  their  special  service.  To  the  Levites  were  appor- 
tioned thirty-five  cities :  to  the  remainder  of  the  sons  of 
Kohath,  (not  priests,)  ten  cities — out  of  Ephraim,  four  ;  Dan. 
fom* ;  and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh,  two  :  to  the  sons  of 
Gershon,  thirteen  cities — out  of  Issachar,  four  ;  Aslier,  four  ; 
l^aphtali,  three  ;  and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh,  two  :  to  the 
sons  of  Merari,  twelve  cities — out  of  Reuben,  four ;  Gad, 
four ;  and  Zebulon,  four.  Josh.  xxi.  1-45.  Of  the  forty-eight, 
six  were  cities  of  refuge ;  three  on  each  side  of  Jordan.  On 
the  west  side  were  Kadesh  in  Naphtali,  Shechem  in  Ephraim, 
and  Kirjath-arba  (or  Hebron)  in  Judah  ;  on  the  east,  Bezer  in 
Reuben,  Ramoth-in-Gilead  in  Gad ;  and  Golan  in  Bashan,  in 
the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh.  Only  one  of  these  cities  belonged 
to  the  priests,  namely,  Hebron  in  Judah,  Josh.  xx.  1-9  ;  1 
Chron.  vi.  54-81. 

The  possession  of  these  cities  and  suburbs  was  inalienable. 
The  priests  and  Levites  might,  from  necessity,  sell  their 
houses,  but  subject  to  redemption  at  any  time.  At  the  year 
of  Jubilee  they  came  back  to  them.  Their  lands  could  never 
be  sold  at  all,  Levit.  xxv.  32-34.  The  Lord  secured  to  His 
ministers  and  their  families  a  permanent  home,  and  put  them 
beyond  the  reach  of  violence  and  oppression.  Their  homes 
served  them  as  retreats  and  places  for  support  when  the  people 
failed  to  provide  for  them  their  just  and  commanded  supplies. 
The  times 'of  JSTehemiah  furnish  an  example  (Neh.  xiii.  10): 
says  he,  "  And  I  perceived  that  the  portions  of  the  Levites  had 
not  been  given  them  :  for  the  Levites  and  the  singers  that  did 


352  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

the  work,  were  fled  every  one  to  his  field."  They  could  not 
labor  without  support,  and  finding  it  necessary  to  do  some- 
thing for  themselves  and  their  families,  surely  they  were  not 
to  be  blamed. 

In  their  cities  the  priests  and  the  Levites  settled,  reared 
and  educated  their  families,  and  had  their  servants,  "  bought 
with  their  money,"  and  their  cattle  and  beasts  for  service. 
They  received  and  instructed  all  the  people  who  resorted  to 
them,  and  they  went  forth  into  the  other  cities  and  villages  of 
the  tribes  in  which  their  lot  was  cast,  and  taught  the  people 
the  law  of  the  Lord. 

The  provision  of  cities  and  lands  gave  ample  room,  and 
was  adequate  to  the  increase  of  the  Levites.  Sometimes,  by 
neglect  and  apostacy,  the  people  failed  in  contributing  for 
their  support.  Judges  xvii.  1-13  ;  Neh.  xiii.  10  ;  2  Chron.  xi. 
13-14 ;  xxxi.  4-10,  although,  the  command  was  positive : 
"  Take  heed  to  thyself  that  thou  forsake  not  the  Levite  as 
long  as  thou  livest  upon  the  earth,"  Deut.  xii.  19,  "  for  he 
hath  no  part  nor  inheritance  with  thee,"  Deut.  xiv.  27.  His 
support  is  from  his  office  alone ;  therefore,  render  it  to  him, 
Neh.  X.  34-39  ;  1.  Cor.  ix.  1-27. 

4.  The  maintenance  of  the  ministry  was  derived  probably 
from  the  annual  capitation  tax,  which  was  designed  for  the 
sanctuary.  Among  other  items  it  may  have  covered  in  part 
the  maintenance  of  ministers,  but  of  this  we  are  not  certain. 

The  law  of  the  apportionment  of  all  the  contributions  to 
the  priests  and  Levites  is  not  given,  but  certainly  the  appor- 
tionment was  equitably  made,  some  receiving  more  and  others 
less,  according  to  their  respective  wants.  Of  this  we  have 
some  intimation  in  2  Chron.  xxxi.  5-19,  and  Keh.  xii.  44-45. 

From  these  various  sources,  an  ample  temporal  support  for 
the  ministry  was  ordained  of  God,  and  the  whole  matter  left 
to  the  honor,  honesty,  interest,  and  piety  of  the  Church  ;  for 
no  laws  are  in  the  statutes  for  enforcing  the  payment  of  the 
tithes,  ofi'erings,  and  capitation  tax.  The  neglect  was  viewed 
as  an  offence.  Matt.  xvii.  24-27,  and  the  Lord  signified  His 
displeasure  by  visiting  the  people  with  just  judgments  accord- 
ing to  His  will.    Li  the  noted  passage  of  Malachi  (iii.  6-18), 


THE   SUPPORT   OF   THE   MINISTRY.  353 

the  Lord  accuses  the  people  of  having  "  robbed  Him  in  titlies 
and  offerings."  Hence  He  cursed  them  with  a  curse  griev- 
ously. The  fruits  of  tlieir  ground  had  been  destroyed,  tlie 
vine  had  cast  her  fruit  before  the  time,  and  God  had  departed 
from  them.  They  are  exhorted  to  return  unto  the  Lord,  and 
to  testify  their  repentance  by  reformation  :  to  bring  all  the 
tithes  into  the  storehouse,  and  the  Lord  would  open  the 
windows  of  heaven  and  pour  them  out  an  abundant  blessing, 
comp.  Amos  iv.  1-13  ;  Prov.  iii.  9-10  ;  Hag.  ii.  10-23. 

This  law  and  manner  of  ministerial  support  continued  in 
the  Church  until  the  advent  of  our  Lord.  By  Him  the  same 
law  was  confirmed  and  reenacted,  but  the  former  manner  of 
raising  the  support  by  tithes,  sacrifices,  oflerings,  landed  prop- 
erty, and  capitation  tax,  was  done  away  with,  and  the  volun- 
tary contributions,  the  "  free-will  ofi'erings  of  the  people  "  wore 
substituted.  When  our  Lord  came,  who  was  the  fulfilment  and 
substance  of  the  Aaronic  priesthood  and  all  sacrifices  oftered 
by  it,  both  priesthood  and  sacrifice  passed  away.  The  civil 
state  of  the  Church,  having  accomplished  its  ends,  in  like  man- 
ner passed  away,  and  with  it  all  the  houses  and  lands  of  the 
ministry.  As  our  Lord's  kingdom  was  to  have  no  more  a 
connection  with  earthly  possessions,  the  only  source  of  support 
left  was  that  drawn  from  His  people.  On  one  occasion  He 
"  called  unto  Him  His  twelve  disciples,"  and  on  another, 
"  other  seventy  also,"  and  commanded  them,  "  Go  preach  my 
Gospel."  "  But,  Lord,  by  whom  are  we  and  our  families  to 
be  supported  ?  "  "  Not  by  yourselves."  "  Provide  neither 
gold  nor  silver,  nor  brass  in  your  purses,  nor  scrip  for  j'our 
journey,  neither  two  coats,  neither  shoes,  nor  yet  staves." 
"  By  whom  then,  Lord  ?  "  "  By  the  people  to  whom  you  minis- 
ter." "  Eat  and  drink  such  things  as  they  give."  "  They  are 
to  support  you  and  yours  so  long  as  you  minister  to  them  ;  " 
"  for  the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire,  the  workman  is  worthy 
of  his  meat."  Sometime  after  these  missions  were  ended,  said 
He  to  them,  "  "When  I  sent  you  without  purse,  and  scrip,  and 
shoes,  lacked  ye  anything  ?  And  they  said,  ISTothing,"  Matt. 
X.  1-10  ;  Mark  vi.  7-9  ;  Luke  ix.  1-6  ;  x.  1-9  ;  xxii.  35.  Fol- 
lowing the  instructions  of  the  Lord  and  inspired  by  His  spirit, 
23 


354  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

the  Apostle  Paul  confimis  and  recinacts  the  ancient  laws : 
"  Do  you  not  know  that  they  which  minister  about  holy 
things  live  of  the  things  of  the  temple  ?  and  they  which  wait 
at  the  altar,  are  partakers  with  the  altar  ?  Even  so  " — the 
same  law  continues— "  even  so  hath  the  Lord  ordained  that 
they  which  preach  the  Gospel  should  live  of  the  Gospel,"  1 
Cor.  ix.  1-27. 

This  law — of  authority  under  both  Dispensations — entitles 
the  ministers  of  God  to  a  support,  and  they  can  claim  it  as  a 
right  from  the  people  to  whom  they  minister.  Says  the  Apos- 
tle to  the  Corinthians,  "  Have  we  not  power  to  eat  and  to 
drink" — "  a  right  to  a  support  at  your  hands  ?  Nay  more,  have 
we  not  power  to  lead  about  a  sister,  a  wife,  as  well  as  other 
Apostles,  and  as  the  brethren  of  the  Lord  and  Cephas  ? — a 
right  to  a  personal,  and,  if  married,  to  a  family  support  also  ?  " 
Under  the  Old  Dispensation,  ministers  with  their  families  re- 
ceived a  support ;  in  like  manner,  ministers  and  their  families 
must  receive  a  support  under  the  I^ew  Dispensation.  A  min- 
ister may,  if  he  chooses,  relinquish  his  right  of  support  from 
the  people  to  whom  he  ministers,  but  they  can  never  claim  his 
services  as  a  gratuity.  To  the  extent  of  their  abilities,  they  are 
under  obligations  to  support  him.  Paul  declined  using  this 
right  when  he  preached  to  the  Corinthians,  but  felt  himself  at 
liberty  to  assert  it  whenever  he  chose  to  do  so  :  and  the  Co- 
rinthians were  in  reason,  honor,  honesty,  and  religion,  bound 
to  admit  his  right,  not  theoretically,  but  practically,  1  Cor.  x. 
15-19. 

He  was  wont  at  times  in  his  missionary  tours  to  draw  his 
support  from  churches  other  than  those  he  was  founding  and 
laboring  in,  and,  when  his  supplies  failed,  to  support  himself 
by  his  own  exertions,  as  at  Corinth,  working  at  his  craft  of 
tent-making,  with  Priscilla  and  Aquila  ;  and  again  at  Thessa- 
loniea  and  Ephesus,  2  Cor.  xi.  7-10  ;  xii.  13-19  ;  1  Thess.  ii. 
5-9  ;  Phil.  iv.  10-19  ;  Acts  xviii  1-3  ;  2  Tliess.  iii.  8-9  ;  Acts 
XX.  33-35.  All  this  he  did  for  the  Gospel's  sake,  that  it  might 
not  be  hindered  ;  and  his  being  thus  compelled  to  "  labor  work- 
ing with  his  own  hands  "  he  set  down  among  the  "  afflictions  " 
which  he  had  to  endure  as  an  Apostle,  1  Cor.  iii.  9-13  ;  comp. 


THE   SUPPORT   OF   THE   MINISTRY.  355 

1  Tim.  iv.  9.  It  was  so  much  precious  time  irretrievably  taken 
from  his  work  in  the  ministry.  He  commands  the  churches  to 
support  their  ministers,  "  Let  him  that  is  taught  in  the  "Word 
communicate  unto  him  that  teacheth  in  all  good  things,"  Gal. 
vi.  6.  "  Let  the  elders  that  rule  well  he  counted  worthy  of 
double  honor,  especially  they  who  labor  in  the  Word  and  doc- 
trine. For  the  Scripture  saith.  Thou  shalt  not  muzzle  the  ox 
that  treadeth  out  the  corn.  And,  Tlie  laborer  is  worthy  of  his 
reward,"  1  Tim.  v.  17-18  ;  comp.  Deut.  xii.  19  ;  xiv.  27. 

The  great  Head  of  the  Church  could  have  so  arranged  the 
duties  of  His  ministers,  as  to  have  allowed  them  time  to  provide 
for  their  own  temporal  support,  and  thus  relieved  the  people 
of  it  altogether,  but  such  has  not  been  His  pleasure.  On  the 
contrary.  He  has  required  an  entire  devotion  of  time  and  tal- 
ents to  the  work,  for  it  is  so  momentous  and  extensive  as  to 
require  nothing  less.  Consequently,  ministers  have  time 
neither  to  reap  nor  sow,  nor  gather  into  barns,  nor  to  buy  and 
sell  and  get  gain.  They  are  cut  ofl*  from  the  ordinary  employ- 
ments and  callings  of  men,  whereby  they  are  enabled  by  God's 
blessing  to  support  themselves  and  their  families.  As  in  the 
state,  "  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God  " — and  while 
they  rule  and  devote  themselves  to  the  welfare  of  the  people, 
the  people  for  their  own  benefit  and  for  the  fear  of  God  are  to 
render  them  honor  and  support — so  in  the  Church,  the  "  pow- 
ers that  be  "  are  to  be  honored  and  supported  by  the  members 
for  whose  benefit  they  teach  and  rule. 

"While  the  right  of  the  ministry  to  an  ample  temporal 
support  is  divine,  it  has  its  foundation  in  necessity,  and  justice ; 
in  the  interests  and  piety  of  men.  In  necessity,  because  essen- 
tial to  the  perfection  and  well-being  of  the  Church  ;  for  to  deny 
the  ministry  an  adequate  support  is  to  reject  it,  and  to  bring 
on  its  decline  and  eventual  destruction.  In  justice,  though 
ignorance  and  infidelity  would  have  us  believe  that  ministers 
are  an  unproductive  class,  and  therefore  useless  in  society. 
On  the  same  principle  all  professions  that  do  not  engage  per- 
sonally and  directly  in  material  labors  are  so  too.  The  same 
blow  that  prostrates  divinity,  prostrates  law,  medicine,  and 
education.     "What  a  degrading  view  of  man  !     "What  becomes 


356  THE   HISTOKT   OF   THE    CKUKCH   OF   GOD. 

of  his  nobler,  godlike  nature,  Lis  immortal  mind,  which  will  live 
after  the  world  is  no  more,  and  live  on  eternally  ?  Are  they 
drones,  or  idlers,  or  consumers  only  in  society,  whose  energies 
are  devoted  to  the  intellectual  and  moral  improvement  of  their 
fellow-men,  in  order  that  they  may  the  better  understand  and 
appreciate  the  relations,  and  perform  the  duties  of  this  life  as 
well  as  of  the  life  to  come  ?  Remuneration  in  the  way  of  tem- 
poral support  can  never  compare  in  value  with  the  intellectual 
and  spiritual  blessings  which,  under  God,  ministers  convey  to 
mankind.  They  are  compensated  for  their  time  only,  which 
otherwise  they  would  be  obliged  to  devote  to  the  procurement 
of  a  living  for  themselves  and  families.  They  are  not  objects 
of  charity — they  ask  no  favors.  The  minister  who  would 
make  gain  the  end  of  his  godliness,  and  the  people  who  would 
have  godliness  without  affording  its  minister  a  just  support, 
are  both  alike  abominable  to  God.  The  contract  of  labor  and 
reward  is  one  of  simple  justice.  The  laborer,  saith  our  Lord, 
''  is  worthy  of  his  hire  ;"  and  the  Apostle  argues,  "  Who  goeth 
a  warfare  any  time  at  his  own  charges  ?  Who  planteth  a 
vineyard  and  eateth  not  of  the  fruit  thereof?  Or  who  feedeth 
a  flock  and  eateth  not  of  the  milk,  of  the  flock  ?  If  we  have 
sown  mito  you  spiritual  things,  is  it  a  great  thing  if  we  shall 
reap  your  carnal  things  ?  "  1  Cor.  ix.  7j  11.  The  right  of  min- 
isterial support  has  its  foundation  in  the  interests  of  men.  As 
the  benefits  of  the  ministry  are  both  of  a  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral nature,  all  who  desire  their  own  holiness  and  preparation 
for  heaven,  the  peace,  order,  and  virtue,  which  render  com- 
munities stable  and  happy,  will  find  it  to  their  interest  to  em- 
ploy and  to  sustain  an  able  ministry  in  the  Church.  The 
piety  of  the  Church  asserts  this  right ;  for  the  people  of  God 
do  love  the  Lord  and  His  kingdom.  His  AVord  and  the  ordi- 
nances of  His  house.  They  accept  His  ministers — the  ambas- 
sadors of  Christ — with  joy,  and  esteem  it  not  only  their  duty, 
but  their  privilege  to  maintain  them — to  maintain  them,  more- 
over, in  all  countries  whither  they  are  sent  to  preach  the  un- 
searchable riches  of  Christ. 


MOSES  AND  HIS  DISPENSATION.  357 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

CONDENSED  VIEW  OP  MOSES  AND  HIS  DISPENSATION. — WHAT  HE  FOUND 
READY  TO  HIS  HAND  WITH  THE  PEOPLE,  AS  A  CHURCH  AND  AS  A 
STATE. — HIS  MISSION, — CHURCH  AND  STATE  PERFECTED  UNDER  HIM. 
— HIS  DISPENSATION  A  CONTINUATION  OP  THE  CHURCH  UNDER  THE 
COVENANT  OP  GRACE  :  NOT  LEGAL,  BUT  BOTH  LAW  AND  GOSPEL, 
—ERROR  OP  ISRAELITES  IN  RELATION  THERETO. — THE  LIBERTY  OF 
CONSCIENCE  ALLOWED  UNDER  THE  COMMONWEALTH. — A  PURE  THEOC- 
RACY.— CONSTITUTION  WRITTEN  IN  SCRIPTURES. — GENERAL  PRINCIPLE. 
— EXAMPLES  OF  CRIMINAL  ACTS  :  NOT  TO  BE  COMMITTED  UNDER  PLEA 
OF  LIBERTY  OP  CONSCIENCE. — WHAT  THAT  LIBERTY  OP  CONSCIENCE 
WAS, — NO  PERSECUTION  UNDER  THE  COMMONWEALTH. — THE  TRUE 
VISIBLE  CHURCH  NEVER  PERSECUTING. — COMMONWEALTH  DID  NOT 
PRESERVE  LIBERTY  OP  CONSCIENCE. — EFFECTS. — SECTS  AFTER  CAP- 
TIVITY.— PERSECUTION  OP  OUR  LORD,  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES,  FROM  DE- 
PRAVITY, NOT  LAW. — COMMONWEALTH  PASSED  AWAY. — OUR  LORD  NO 
PERSECUTOR,  NOR  HIS  DISCIPLES. — WHAT  LIBERTY  OF  CONSCIENCE 
SHOULD  BE  ALLOWED  UNDER  CHRISTIAN  GOVERNMENTS. — SUBJECT 
CONSIDERED. 

We  how  conclude  our  stay  at  Sinai  witli  a  condensed  view 
of  Moses  and  his  dispensation,  and  of  the  liberty  of  conscience 
allowed  under  the  commonwealth. 

First :  Moses  was  sent  of  God  to  reveal  to  His  Churcli  no 
new  doctrines,  to  institute  no  new  rites,  or  ordinances,  or 
covenants,  or  to  alter  the  constitution  of  the  Church,  either 
in  its  officers  or  members  ;  nor  did  he  deliver  any  moral  or 
ceremonial  law  which,  in  substance,  was  not  previously 
known  ;  nor  was  his  dispensation,  in  any  sense,  so  purely  legal 
and  condemnatory  as  to  exclude  both  the  exhibition  and  ojft'er 


358         THE  mSTOEY  OF  TUE  CHURCH  OF  GOD. 

of  salvation  in  the  Gospel.  His  work  was  the  collection,  ar- 
rangement, enlargement,  and  perfection  of  all  relating  to  the 
Church  that  went  before,  beginning  with  the  fall  and  ending 
with  his  mission.  He  nsed  the  matter  already  existing  and 
prepared  to  his  hand,  and  only  added  new  material  tliereto  in 
the  process  of  arranging,  enlarging,  and  perfecting  it  until 
Christ  should  come.  We  have  therefore  to  inquire  what ,  he 
Ibnnd  ready  to  his  hand,  and  what  in  the  fulfilment  of  his  mis- 
sion he  added  thereto  ?  When  he  came,  the  people  of  God 
were  separated  from  the  world,  and  were  existing  as  one  l)ody, 
hoth  ecclesiasticaUy  and  civilly  y  a  ChurcJi,  and  a  nation. 

What  did  he  find  ready  to  his  hand  with  the  people  of  God 
a-s  a  Cliurch  ?  They  were  separated  from  the  world,  and  con- 
stituted a  Church  in  Abraham — and  that  four  hundred  and 
thirty  years  before  Moses  and  the  giving  of  the  law — in  cove- 
nant with  God  ;  and  that  covt^nant  not  a  new  one  in  sub- 
stance, but  the  origin pJ  covenant  entered  into  with  Adam ; 
even  the  covenant  of  grace,  renewed  with  Abraham,  and  now 
again  with  Moses,  and  having,  in  addition  to  it,  promises  re- 
lating to  the  temporal  state  of  the  Church,  with  a  fixed  consti- 
tution of  membership,  consisting  of  believers,  together  with 
their  infant  children ;  and  with  the  initiatory  rite  and  seal, 
which  was  circumcision ;  with  ofiicers  both  ordinary  and 
extraordinary,  priests  and  prophets ;  with  ordinances  of  wor- 
ship, by  sacrifices  and  offerings,  and  altars  ;  with  an  appointed 
and  holy  day  for  the  worship  of  God  ;  with  tithes  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  ministry,  and  with  the  moral  law — the  ten  com- 
mandments— if  not  written  in  distinct  order,  yet  in  fact  recog- 
nized as  the  rule  of  duty  to  God's  people  in  all  previous  ages, 
as  reference  to  the  passages  quoted  in  the  margin  will  abun- 
dantly prove.'"     lie  also  found  the  Church,  under  the  Divine 


*  For  tlie  first  commandmeut — Gen.  cliaps.  i.,  ii.,  iii. ;  cliaj^s.  xv.  1 ; 
xvii.  1 ;  Book  of  Job.  The  second  commandment — Gen.  xxxv.  1-4. 
Josh.  xxiv.  1-3.  Job  xxxi.  24-28.  Third— Gen.  xiv.  23-34  ;  xxii.  15-18. 
Hcb.  vi.  13-14.  Gen.  xxiv.  1-3  ;  xxxi.  53.  Fourth— Gen.  ii.  1-3  ;  viii. 
10-12  ;  vii.  4,  10  ;  xxix.  27-28  ;  xxvii.  41-46  ;  chaps,  xxxi.,  xxxvii.,  xlv., 
xlvi.,  xlix.,  1.;  Exod.  iv.  18.     Fifth— Gen.  xviii.  19  ;  xxii.  7-9  ;  xxiv.  1-3, 


THE   MISSION   AND   WOKK   OF   MOSES.  359 

Head  and  promised  Redeemer,  revealing  and  proclaiming 
salvation  through  His  imputed  righteousness,  in  the  institution 
of  sacrifices  and  oJfferings,  and  through  the  lives  and  preaching 
of  holy  men,  both  patriarchs  and  prophets.  Moreover,  the 
people  of  God,  as  a  Church,  he  found  in  possession  of  the  fun- 
damental doctrines  of  revealed  religion  ;  for  example  :  of  the 
Divine  existence  and  unity,  in  opposition  to  the  notion  of  there 
being  more  Gods  than  one,  and  in  opposition  to  all  idolatry 
(see  Genesis  and  Job) ;  of  the  existence  in  the  one  Divine 
natm'e  of  three  persons — what  is  aflarmed  and  predicated  of 
them,  obliging  us  to  consider  them  the  same  in  substance, 
equal  in  power  and  glory  (jSTumb.  vi.  23-2Y) — of  the  creation 
of  the  world,  and  its  necessary  dependence,  and  God's  sove- 
reignty over  it ;  of  the  creation  and  primitive  state  of  man  ;  his 
first  sin  and  fall  under  the  covenant  of  works,  and  the  conse- 
quent depravity  and  ruin  of  himself,  and  of  all  his  posterity ; 
of  the  existence  and  agency  both  of  good  and  of  evil  angels  ; 
of  God's  covenant  of  grace  and  salvation  by  a  Redeemer  exist- 
ing from  eternity,  which  included  those  only  whom  God,  in 
His  infinite  wisdom  and  mercy,  determined  to  save ;  of  the 
divinity  as  well  as  humanity  of  the  Redeemer,  and  of  salvation 
alone  by  faith  in  Him  ;  of  the  existence,  agency,  and  divinity 
of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  of  the  necessity  of  regeneration  by 
Him  ;  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and  the  resurrection  of 
the  body,  and  future  rewards  and  punishments  ;  and,  finally, 
of  the  coming  of  the  promised  Messiah,  the  future  increase 
and  glory  of  His  kingdom,  and  the  gathering  of  all  nations 
into  it.  These  doctrines  we  have  briefly  stated,  without  add- 
ing the  copious  proofs  to  be  found  in  the  books  of  Moses  and 
the  book  of  Job. 

And  what  did  he  find  ready  to  his  hand  with  the  people  of 


62-67  ;  xxvi.  34-35.  Job  xxxi.  29-31.  Sixth— Gen.  iv.  1-24  ;  ix.  4-6  ; 
xiii.  7-9  ;  xxvii.  41^5  ;  xxxvii.  19-36  ;  vi.  1-2.  Job  xxxi.  9-12.  Seventh 
— Gen.  ii.  18-25  ;  iv.  19-24  ;  vi.  1-2  :  chaps,  xxxiv.,  xxxviii.,  xxxix.,  xlix. 
4.  Job  xxxi.  9-12.  Eighth — Gen.  xxxi.  41,  19,  32:  chaps,  xliv.,  xxxix. 
8.  Job  xxxi.  16-22,  38^0.  Ninth— Gen.  xxxi.  26-38:  chap,  xxxix. 
Tenth — Gen.  xxx.  1-2  ;  xxxi.  1-42  ;  chaps,  xxxiv.,  xxxix  ;  xlix.  4. 


360  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHTJECH   OF   GOD. 

God  as  a  State  ?  That  they  were  living  distinct  from  all  peo- 
ple under  their  own  civil  constitution.  Before  Abraham,  we 
know  not  if  the  Church  had  any  civil  constitution  at  all ;  after 
Abraham,  we  know  it  had,  for  he  was,  himself,  the  temporal 
head  and  ruler,  under  God,  of  his  family  and  household,  exer- 
cising that  sort  of  government  over  them  which  is  termed 
patriarchal,  and  in  which  he  was  succeeded  by  his  sons,  Isaac 
and  Jacob,  and  they  afterwards  in  Egypt  by  chief  men  and 
elders.  When  Moses,  by  God's  command,  assumed  the  reins 
of  government,  it  was  over  a  state  or  nation  made  ready  to  his 
hand ;  of  which  God  Himself  had,  from  the  beginning,  been 
the  king,  and  the  government  a  theocracy.  They  had  civil 
oflacers  and  laws  ;  were  already  divided  into  tribes,  with  insti- 
tutions for  preserving  them  distinct ;  and  had  promise  of  a  land 
for  their  possession  till  the  Desire  of  all  Nations  should  come. 
Into  that  land  the  Lord  was  to  lead  them,  and  there  they  were 
to  exist  as  a  regularly  constituted  and  governed  nation.  So 
much  did  Moses  find  ^j)7'€j9«r66?  to  his  hand  in  Church  and 
in  state. 

And  now,  what  was  his  mission,  and  in  fulfilment  of  it 
what  did  he  add  either  to  Church  or  state  ? 

His  mission  was  to  deliver  the  people  of  God  out  of  bond- 
age in  Egypt,  and  to  lead  them  through  the  wilderness,  and  set- 
tle them  in  the  promised  land,  in  fulfilment  of  the  promises  of 
God  made  to  them  four  hundred  and  thirty  years  before.  For 
this  remarkable  mission  he  was  abundantly  qualified  by  Him 
who  appointed  him,  and  he  was  enabled  to  accomplish  it  to 
the  praise  of  the  glory  of  God.  "While  taking  his  people 
through  the  wilderness,  it  pleased  God,  through  Moses,  to  give 
them,  ecclesiastically  and  civilly,  more  arrangement,  order, 
enlargement,  and  perfection,  than  they  had  previously  en- 
joyed. 

1.  Ecclesiastically.  In  relation  to  His  revealed  truth,  the 
rule  of  duty  and  the  way  of  life,  all  previous  revelations, 
whether  handed  down  authentically  by  tradition,  or  committed 
to  writing,  were  carefully  collected  and  arranged,  and  written 
out  by  Moses  under  the  direction  and  inspiration  of  God.  To 
these  were  added  the  revelations  made  bv  the  Lord  to  him  im- 


THE   MISSION    AND   WORK   OF   MOSES.  361 

mediately  ;  all  which  we  have  contained  in  the  five  books  of 
Moses  and  the  book  of  Job.  These  are  in  a  comprehensive 
sense,  "  the  law  of  God."  To  them  notliing  material  whether 
of  doctrine  or  order,  either  for  edification  or  salvation,  was  ad- 
ded till  our  Saviour  appeared.  The  historical  books,  the 
Prophets,  and  the  Psalms,  are  all  based  upon,  and  grow  out  of 
the  six  books  now  mentioned.  Here,  then,  Moses  gathered  up, 
arranged,  and  committed  to  writing  the  "Word  of  God,  the  all- 
suflicient  rule  of  faith  and  practice  for  His  Church.  Again  : 
Moses  arranged,  systematically  and  permanently,  the  officers 
of  .the  Church,  confining  them  to  one  tribe,  making  the  whole 
priesthood  hereditary,  and  regulating  their  service  and  sup- 
port, and  everything  appertaining  to  their  duties,  ecclesiasti- 
cally, civilly,  and  socially.  Again  :  he  arranged  the  various 
sacrifices,  together  with  their  forms  and  ceremonies,  and  the 
signiflcancy  of  the  whole :  the  ceremonial  observances  in 
the  worship,  and  service  and  holiness  of  God's  people ;  and 
the  times,  seasons,  and  manner  of  clean  and  unclean  ;  and  the 
manner  of  vows  and  dedications  of  persons  and  things.  Again : 
he  reared  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation — the  house  of 
God — with  its  peculiar  structure,  furniture,  ministry,  and  ser- 
vice. He  instituted  the  feasts  and  solemn  assemblies  to  be 
observed  in  commemoration  of  great  events  occurring  in  God's 
dealing  with  His  people,  which  they  were  to  observe  most 
sincerely  and  sacredly.  Again  :  he  drew  out  the  law  of  God 
in  its  application  to  the  various  circumstances  and  relations  of 
God's  people,  for  their  warning  and  instruction,  and  ordained 
the  degrees  of  relationship  for  the  proj)er  solemnization  of 
marriages,  and  laws  to  be  observed  to  preserve  them  from 
the  contaminations  of  heathenism.  Thus  he  collected,  ar- 
ranged, and  perfected  the  constitution  and  order  of  the 
Church. 

2.  Civilly.  Moses  enlarged  and  perfected  the  mode  of 
civil  government  by  ofticcrs  and  judges,  keeping  tlie  tribes 
distinct,  yet  uniting  them  in  a  court  or  council  of  general  rep- 
resentation, and  in  meetings  of  tiie  elders  or  rulers  upon  emer- 
gencies. He  drew  up  laws  for  the  government  of  all  classes 
in  the  body  politic,  and  for  the  government  of  the  nation  in  its 


362  THE   HISTOEY   OF  THK   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

relations  with  other  nations,  giving  them  institutions  to  keep 
them  forever  a  distinct  people,  and  enthroning  the  Lord  as 
their  God  and  Iving ;  interweaving  the  laws,  civil  and  re- 
ligions, into  one  code,  and  exacting  obedience  to  all,  as  an  act 
of  obedience  and  allegiance  to  Him  who  was  both  God  and 
King.  The  whole  law  was  spiritual,  and  the  requu'ed  obe- 
dience was  spiritual.  The  member  of  the  Church  was  the 
member  of  the  state.  The  obedience  of  one  was  that  of  the 
other ;  and  so  were  thej  "  a  peculiar  people,  a  royal  priest- 
hood, and  an  holj  nation."  He  also  regulated  their  settlement 
in,  and  possession  of  the  promised  land,  and  anticipated  a 
kingij  government,  giving  commandment  concerning  the 
same.  He  enjoined,  also,  observances  in  respect  to  planting 
and  reaping,  sabbatical  years  and  years  of  jubilee,  and  gave 
laws  regulating  buying  and  selling  ;  all  which  tended  to  keep 
them  a  believing  and  holy  nation.  Thus  he  collected,  ar- 
ranged and  perfected  the  constitution  and  order  of  the  state. 

Such  being  the  mission  and  work  of  Moses,  the  true  nature 
of  iis  dispensation  readily  appears.  It  was  but  a  gathering 
up  and  arranging,  and  amplifying  and  perfecting  all  that 
went  before  of  God's  revelations  to  His  people,  of  the  doc- 
trines, order,  discipline,  constitution,  and  end  of  His  Church 
on  earth.  In  a  word,  it  was  but  the  continuation  of  the 
Church,  and  a  continuation  and  enlargement  of  that  covenant 
of  grace  in  which  the  Church  lives,  moves,  and  has  its  being. 
The  covenant  which  the  Lord  made,  through  Moses,  with  His 
people  at  Sinai  immediately  after  the  delivery  of  the  ten  com- 
mandments, was  not,  we  repeat  it,  a  covenant  of  works  such 
as  He  entered  into  in  the  beginning  with  our  federal  head, 
Adam  ;  for  by  his  transgression  of  that  covenant,  he  and  all 
his  race  were  irretrievably  ruined  and  lost,  were  involved 
under  the  curse,  and  could  never  more  look  to  that  covenant  for 
life.  It  was  instantly  set  aside  by  the  Lord  after  the  fell.  The 
race  was  put  under  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  the  salvation  of 
the  Lord's  people  effected  and  secured  by  a  Redeemer — through 
His  righteousness,  imputed  to  them  for  justification,  and  not  by 
any  righteousness  of  their  own.  This  covenant  of  grace  had  been 
in  operation  from  Adam  to  Moses,  and  had  opened  the  gates 


CHUECH   AND   STATE   PERFECTED   UNDEK   MOSES.  363 

of  heaven  to  multitudes.  Moses  himself  was  a  cliild  of  that 
coveuant.  Nor  was  the  covenant  made  at  Sinai  any  new  cov- 
enant, different  from  both  the  covenants  of  works  and  of  grace. 
It  was  really  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  nothing  else  ;  the 
same  which  God  had  made  with  Abraham,  which  He  had 
made  long  before  with  Adam,  and  which  He  now  renewed 
with  His  people,  under  new,  solemn,  and  most  impressive 
circumstances. 

Moses'  dispensation  was  not  a  legal  dispensation,  in  the 
sense  that  life  was  promised  and  obtained  by  personal  and 
perfect  obedience  to  the  law  ;  Moses  nowhere  teaches  this  in- 
dependent of  the  Gospel.  "  The  law  which  came  by  Moses  " 
embraces  all  that  he  revealed  from  God  to  His  Church.  It 
does  not  mean  the  ten  commandments  only,  for  they  did  not 
come  by  Moses  alone ;  they  had  come  long  before  by  patri- 
archs and  prophets.  It  means  hoth  the  moral  and  ceremonial 
laics — l)oth  law  and  Gospel — the  covenant  of  works  broken 
and  condemning,  and  the  covenant  of  grace  fulfilled  and  justi- 
fying ;  the  covenant  of  grace,  pre-supposing  and  requiring  for 
its  action  the  covenant  of  works  ;  and  the  whole  law  a  repub- 
lication, if  we  may  use  such  an  expression,  of  the  covenant  of 
works,  and  of  the  covenant  of  grace.  For  "  the  law  was  our 
schoolmaster  to  bring  us  to  Christ."  That  is  to  say,  the  sinner 
under  the  moral  law  is  convicted,  condemned,  without  hope, 
and  in  self-despair,  but  the  ceremonial  law  comes  to  his  relief. 
He  learns  that  its  sacrifices  are  typical,  and  he  looks  through 
and  beyond  them  to  the  coming  of  that  great  and  promised 
Redeemer,  who,  by  one  ofiering  of  Himself,  shall  forever  take 
away  sin  ;  and  he  believes  and  is  saved. 

Our  Lord  said  to  the  Jews,  "  Had  ye  believed  Moses,  ye 
would  have  believed  me,  for  he  wrote  of  me,"  John  v.  39-47. 
Moses  wrote  of  Him,  not  only  in  the  promises  concerning  His 
person.  His  work  and  salvation,  but  in  all  the  sacrifices,  types 
and  shadows,  which  pointed  to  Him  as  the  great  object  of  faith 
and  salvation.  Again,  our  Lord  reasons  with  his  countrymen  : 
"  Search  the  Scriptures,  for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have  eternal 
life,  and  they  are  they  which  testify  of  me  ;  there  is  one  that 
accuseth  you,  even  Moses,  in  whom  ye  trust ;    for  had  ye 


364         THE  HISTOEY  OF  THE  CHUECH  OP  GOD. 

believed  Moses,  ye  would  have  believed  me,  for  he  wrote  of 
me.  But  if  ye  believe  not  his  writings,  how  shall  ye  believe 
my  words  ?  "  Christ  is  everywhere  in  Moses.  All  the  prophets 
who  come  after  do  but  repeat  and  renew  his  prophecies  of  our 
Lord,  and  declare,  after  Moses,  His  salvation ;  and  the  sweet 
Psalmist  of  Israel  prolongs  the  joy.  Our  Lord  describes  the 
end  of  His  advent,  "  Think  not  that  I  come  to  destroy  the 
law  or  the  prophets.  I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fuliill. 
For  verily  I  say  unto  you,  till  heaven  and  earth  pass,  one  jot 
or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass  from  the  law  till  all  be 
fulfilled,"  Matt.  v.  17-18.  "These  are  the  words  which  I 
spake  unto  you  while  I  was  yet  with  you,  that  all  things  must 
be  fulfilled  which  are  written  in  the  law  of  Moses,  and  in  the 
prophets,  and  in  the  Psalms,  concerning  me,  Luke  xxiv.  44. 
"With  like  meaning  the  Apostle  John  says  :  "  For  the  law  was 
given  by  Moses,  but  grace  and  .truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ," 
John  i.  17.  The  law  finds  its  "  truth," — its  substance  and 
fulfilment — and  the  "  grace  "  of  life  in  Jesus  Christ.  Clu'ist  is 
not-  opposed  to  the  law  ;  on  the  contrary,  "  He  is  the  end  of 
the  law  for  righteousness  to  every  one  that  believeth."  That 
righteousness  for  justification  unto  life  eternal,  which  the  holy 
law  of  God  requires,  and  which  the  promises  and  the  cere- 
monial law  point  out  as  laid  up  in  Christ  alone,  verily  Christ 
procures  for  His  people. 

The  fundamental  error  of  the  Jews,  (and  it  is  the  error  of 
all  unrenewed  men  and  misguided  religionists,)  was  a  looking 
to  the  law  of  Moses,  both  the  moral  and  ceremonial,  as  a  rule 
of  justification.  By  a  rigid  obedience  to  both,  "  they  went 
about  to  establish  their  own  righteousness,  and  did  not  submit 
themselves  to  the  righteousness  of  God^'^  even  that  very  right- 
eousness provided  for  them  in  the  Icno,  of  which  they  were 
ignorant,  for  the  law  was  a  schoolmaster  to  bring  thein  to 
Christ.  The  Apostle  corrects  their  notion  of  a  personal 
righteousness  thus,  by  assuring  them  that,  according  to  Moses^ 
to  be  acceptable  and  justifying,  it  must  be  perfect.  "  For 
Moses  describeth  the  righteousness  which  is  of  the  law  ;  that 
the  man  which  doeth  these  things  shall  live  by  them,"  Eom. 
X.  1-4 ;  Levit.  xviii.  5.     Such  a  righteousness  they  could  not 


THE  CONTmnATION  OF  THE  CHTJRCH.  365 

attain  imto.  However,  the  Apostle  proceeds  to  sliow,  bj 
another  quotation  from  their  own  Moses,  that  this  was  not  the 
righteousness  he  preached  for  justification,  but  the  very  con- 
trary ;  not  a  righteousness  which  comes  by  perfectly  doing  the 
law,  but  which  comes  by  sincerely  believiug  the  promise  ;  a 
righteousness  not  of  works,  but  of  faith,  namely,  in  the  great 
Kedeeraer,  Rom.  x.  6-11 ;  Deut.  xxx.  11-14.  The  powerful 
and  conclusive  arguments  of  the  Apostle  in  his  Epistles  to  the 
Eomans  and  the  Galatians,  in  which  he  utterly  demolishes  this 
fatal  error,  are  drawn  mainly  and  directly  from  the  books  of 
Moses.  "What  is  his  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  but  an  elucidation 
of  the  Gospel,  according  to  Moses,  in  the  first  instance  ;  and 
in  the  second,  according  to  all  the  prophets  who  came  after 
him,  and  taught  as  Moses  taught  ?  When  this  same  Apostle, 
in  2  Cor.  iii,  6-14,  calls  this  ministry  of  Moses  the  ministration 
of  death,  and  the  ministration  of  condemnation,  he  includes 
but  a  special  part  of  that  ministration,  namely  :  "  that  which 
was  written  and  engraven  on  stones  ;  "  his  ministry  of  tlie  ten 
commandments,  the  moi'al  law,  the  ancient  covenant  of  works, 
under  which  the  race  lies  in  condemnation  and  death. 

One  passage  from  the  third  chapter  of  Galatians  will 
present  the  Apostle's  views  on  this  vital  point.  He  argues  that 
the  law  and  the  promises  do  not  teach  totally  opposite  modes 
of  justification  ;  for  justification  by  faith  was  the  justification 
of  Abraham  and  of  all  his  spiritual  seed  who  followed  in  the 
footsteps  of  his  faith — a  justification  confirmed  in  Christ,  in 
God's  covenant  with  Abraham,  which  came  down  from  Adam, 
and  which  should  continue  forever.  "  And  this  I  say,  that  the 
covenant  which  was  confirmed  before  of  God  in  Christ,  the 
law,  which  was  five  hundred  and  thirty  years  after,  cannot 
disannul ;  that  it  should  make  the  promise  (that  is  of  life 
through  Christ)  of  none  efiect."  The  Gospel  was  preached 
unto  Abraham,  and  he  inherited  the  promises  of  God  as  a 
believer,  and  not  as  one  justified  under  law  by  works.  To  the 
question,  "  Wherefore,  then,  serveth  the  law,"  if  it  is  no  rule 
of  justification  ?  the  Apostle  answers,  "  It  was  added  because 
of  transgression,"  Rom.  v.  20.  The  grand  end  of  the  whole 
law,  moral  and  ceremonial,  which  Moses  received  of  God  in 


366  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

enlargement  and  confirmation  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  was 
the  fuller  manifestation  of  the  hemous  nature  and  vast  amonnt 
of  transgression,  and  also  of  the  way  of  deliverance  from  it ; 
and  it  was  to  continue  in  force  "  till  the  seed  should  come  to 
whom  the  promise  w^as  made."  "  Is  the  law,  then,  against  the 
promises  of  God  ?  "  Does  this  law  provide  for  a  justification 
contrary  to  that  provided  in  the  promises  of  God,  that  is, 
through  Christ  ?  "  God  forbid  !  for  if  there  had  been  a  law 
which  could  have  given  life,  verily  righteousness  should  have 
been  by  the  law."  But  this  was  impossible.  The  moral  law 
pronounces  death  upon  all  transgressors.  The  ceremonial  law, 
in  none  of  its  rites  and  sacrifices  could,  of  itself,  atone  for  sin, 
and  effect  the  justification  of  those  who  resorted  to  it  for  that 
purpose.  It  being  so,  "  the  Scripture  hath  included  all  under 
sin,  that  the  promise  "  (of  justification,  or  of  life),  "  by  faith 
of  Jesus  Christ,  might  be  given  to  them  that  believe."  "  But 
before"  Christ,  the  great  object  of  our  "faith"  for  justifica- 
tion, "  came  "  into  the  world,  "  we  were  kept  under  the  law," 
serving  God  therein  agreeably  to  His  will,  not  expecting  justi- 
fication therefrom,  "  but  shut  up  unto  the  "  blessed  object  of  our 
"  faith,"  looking  to  Him  "  which  should  afterwards  be  re- 
vealed ; "  "  wherefore,"  hear  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter : 
"  The  law  was  our  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  to  Christ,  that  we 
might  be  justified  by  faith ;  but  after  that  faith  " — that  is 
Christ,  the  object  of  faith — "  is  come,  ye  are  no  longer  under 
a  schoolmaster,  for  ye  are  all  the  children  of  God  by  faith  in 
Christ  Jesus." 

The  ceremonial  law — the  schoolmaster  from  which  we  are 
specially  delivered — being  no  longer  necessary,  has,  with  its 
rites  and  sacrifices,  priesthood  and  tabernacle,  passed  away 
since  Christ,  the  substance  and  fulfilment,  has  come,  which  the 
Apostle,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  largely  and  clearly 
demonstrates.  Under  the  Gospel  we  are  freed  from  the  yoke 
and  service  of  that  law  ;  although,  as  we  still  read  and  medi- 
tate upon  it  in  God's  "Word,  it  serves  to  exhibit  to  our  faith 
and  love,  the  excellency,  fulness,  glory,  and  grace  of  Christ. 
But  the  moral  law,  immutable  in  its  natm-e  and  authority,  ever 
abides  to  convict  and  drive  the  sinner  out  of  himself,  and  to 


LIBERTY   OF   CONSCIENCE   UNDER  THE   COMlIONWEALTn,       3G7 

school  iiim  that  he  may  go  to  Christ.  Yet,  when  by  the  grace 
of  God  we  are  made  his  cbiklren  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  we 
are  delivered  from  this  just  and  terrible  schoolmaster  ;  we  no 
longer  fear  its  wrath  and  cm-se  ;  "  for  CIn*ist  was  made  under 
the  law  to  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law,  that  we 
might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons,"  Gal.  iv.  1-8.  The  stripes 
have  all  fallen  upon  our  blessed  substitute,  and  we  are  healed ; 
we  walk,  therefore,  at  liberty  :  new  men,  created  unto  good 
works,  with  that  freedom  wherewith  Christ  Jesus  makes  His 
people  free. 

The  dispensation  of  Moses  is  not,  therefore,  a  legal  dispen- 
sation in  any  such  sense  as  to  projiound  a  method  of  justifica- 
tion different  from  that  of  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  nor 
is  it  in  any  sense  opposed  to  the  Gospel.  On  the  contrary,  it 
is  but  a  continuation  and  further  revelation  of  the  covenant  of 
grace,  and  embosoms  the  Gospel. 

When  the  law  of  Moses  is  spoken  of  in  the  Scrij)ture  as 
" unprofitable ;  "  "a  yoke,"  and  " to  wax  old  and  pass  away," 
reference  is  had  directly  to  so  much  of  it,  and  to  that  part 
only,  which  was  "  but  the  shadow  of  good  things  to  come,  not 
the  good  things  themselves  ;  "  and  could  not,  in  its  sacrifices 
and  services,  which  were  onerous,  take  away  sin.  The  Lord 
never  had  any  such  design  in  its  institution.  It  was  profitable, 
in  the  highest  degree,  for  the  times  then  present.  It  taught 
countless  multitudes  of  lost  sinners  the  way  to  Heaven,  who 
are  now  at  rest  in  that  glorious  abode,  with  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob,  and  all  the  Prophets  of  God.  And  lo  !  what  a  list 
of  the  greatest  worthies  is  given  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
attesting  the  greatness  of  its  power,  and  the  riches  of  its  grace ! 
If  such  was  the  power  of  the  gi-ace  of  the  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness shining  through  shadows,  what  shall  be  the  effect  of 
His  unobstnicted  eSulgence  ?  If  such  was  the  effect  of  the 
"  hearing  of  Moses  and  the  Prophets,"  what  shall  be  the  eflect 
of  the  hearing  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles  ? 

Second  :  what  liberty  of  conscience  was  allowed  under  the 
commonwealth  of  Israel  ? 

The  government  of  the  children  of  Israel  was  a  pure  theo- 
cracy.    Their  Sovereign  gave  them  a  written  constitution,  as  a 


368  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

Church  of  •which  He  was  God,  and  as  a  common-wealth  of 
which  He  was  King — a  constitution  intended  to  establish  His 
fear  as  God  and  His  honor  as  king,  and  adopted  by  the  people 
for  themselves  and  their  posterity.  The  Holy  Scriptures  con- 
tained this  constitution,  freely  circulated,  open  to  all,  from  the 
king  upon  the  throne  to  the  servant  behind  the  mill,  read  and 
explained  in  the  audience  of  all  Israel  once  in  seven  years,  and 
constantly  inculcated  by  priests  and  prophets.  Priests  accom- 
2)anied  the  armies  of  tlie  commonwealth  in  war,  and  sometimes 
the  ark  itself,  the  symbol  of  the  presence  of  the  Great  King. 
In  the  opening  and  conduct  of  national  assemblies,  the  direc- 
tion and  blessing  of  God  were  invoked ;  all  oaths  were  admin- 
istered in  God's  name ;  His  sabbath  observed  by  all  classes 
of  people ;  and  idolatry,  sorcery,  and  pollutions  of  incest, 
bestiality,  and  sodomy,  forbidden.  The  commonwealth 
recognized  the  religion  of  the  people,  and  gave  it  protection. 
The  religion  of  the  people  permeated  the  commonwealth,  and 
gave  it  support.  Law  and  religion  leaned  upon  each  other. 
The  ]3eople's  king  was  their  God,  and  their  God  was  their 
king.  Hence  every  act  upon  their  part  which  tended  directly  or 
indirectly  to  dethrone  their  king,  or  to  deny  their  God  (which 
amounted  to  the  same  thing),  was  a  crime  in  law.  For 
example,  if  a  man  practiced  idolatry .  and  sought  to  corrupt 
the  people,  it  was  a  denial  of  the  true  God,  an  act  of  rebellion 
against  His  kingly  rule,  treasonable  in  nature  and  punishable 
with  death.  In  the  same  category  were  the  offences  of  blas- 
phemy of  God  in  name,  attributes,  works,  word,  or  worship  ; 
violations  of  the  sabbath  (for  the  blow  that  prostrated  the 
sabbath,  prostrated  the  God  of  the  sabbath) ;  rebellion  against, 
or  indignities  offered  unto  judges,  kings,  prophets,  or  priests, 
who  ruled  or  spake  by  commission  from  the  great  King  ;  the 
assumption  of  power  or  authority  in  church  or  state,  without 
regard  to  the  order  or  appointment  of  the  great  King,  as  in  the 
case  of  usurpers  of  kingly  or  priestly  power ;  the  assumption, 
and  the  attempted  exercise  of  divine  attributes  and  acts,  as  in 
the  case  of  astrologers,  magicians,  and  sorcerers  ;  and  the  j^rac- 
tice  of  unnatural  vices  destructive  of  public  morals,  religion, 
and  law,  and  so  subversive  of  government  itself.     All  these 


NO   PERSECUTION    UNDER   THE   COMMONWEALTH.  369 

were  offences  against  tlie  commonwealtli ;  and  neither  native- 
bom  citizens  nor  foreigners  were  allowed  to  commit  them  under 
plea  of  liberty  of  conscience,  that  they  had  a  natural  right  to 
believe  and  practice  whatever  religion  they  chose,  and  that  no 
government  had  any  right  to  interfere  with  them.  This  would 
be  acting  not  as  citizens  and  subjects,  but  as  sovereigns,  lawless 
and  irresponsible.  The  commonwealth  framed  laws  for  its 
own  government  and  welfare,  under  which  there  was  liberty 
of  conscience,  but  with  such  limitations  as  estopped  licentious- 
ness, and  preserved  the  commonwealth  from  injury  and  ruin. 

What  was  that  liberty  of  conscience  ?  1.  A  native-born 
citizen  might  renounce  the  faith  of  the  commonwealth,  become 
"  uncircumcised,"  embrace  idolatry,  cease  to  observe  the  sab- 
bath religiously,  and  neglect  to  frequent  the  temple.  He  might 
train  his  family  in  the  same  way,  and  stay  in  the  country,  or 
move  out  of  it.  No  one  would  molest  his  person,  or  property, 
or  family,  or  dispossess  him  of  any  civil  right,  or  protection  of 
law  whatever,  as  a  citizen,  except  that  he  would  necessarily 
be  excommunicated  from  the  church.  2.  A  stranger,  or  a  for- 
eigner, might  move  into  the  commonwealth,  and  live  and  die 
there  as  an  idolater,  so  long  as  he  abstained  from  overt  acts  of 
idolatry,  and  from  such  sins  as  have  been  referred  to.  He 
would  be  recognized  in  Israel,  and  be  treated  and  protected  as 
a  heathen  man  and  a  stranger  ;  for  the  laws  made  provision  for 
such.  He  might  marry  and  give  in  marriage,  buy  and  sell,  hold 
property,  plead,  and  be  impleaded,  go  and  come,  frequent  the 
court  of  the  Gentiles  in  the  temple,  and  avail  himself  of  instruc- 
tion in  the  true  religion  laid  open  to  him.  All  these  things,  in 
common  with  all  other  citizens,  he  might  do  or  not  do  accord- 
ing to  his  pleasure.  In  the  settlement  of  his  faith  he  was  left 
to  his  own  conscience.  He  came  into  the  commonwealth, 
knowing  its  constitution  and  laws,  of  his  own  free-will.  That 
free-will  might  take  him  out  again,  and  none  would  hinder. 
He  could  neither  expect  nor  justly  desire  that  the  people  among 
whom  he  had  come  to  dwell,  and  who  secured  him  in  many 
and  great  blessings  and  privileges,  should,  upon  his  own  motion, 
or  that  of  a  thousand  like  him,  set  aside  a  sacredly  believed, 
ordained,  and  cherished  constitution,  for  the  introduction  of  his 
24 


370  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CUUECH   OF   GOD. 

own  faith  and  practice,  directly  antagonistic  to  and  destructive 
of  tliat  constitution,  and  of  course  subversive  of  public  peace 
and  order.  It  is  a  right  inherent  in  all  commonwealths  to 
uphold  their  own  "constitution  and  laws,  and  to  protect  them- 
selves from  whatever  they  deem  injurious  and  destructive. 

There  was,  then,  let  it  be  said,  no  persecution  for  conscience' 
sake  ordained  in  or  practised  under  the  commonwealth  of 
Israel.  What  is  persecution  ?  It  is  an  assault  by  force  upon 
the  lives,  persons,  property,  or  just  rights  and  privileges  of 
men,  on  account  of  their  religious  belief,  with  the  intent  of 
compelling  them  to  renounce  that  belief,  and  acknowledge 
another,  or  flee  the  country.  Persecution  differs  from  prohib- 
ition or  restraint.  Men  may  be  prohibited  or  restrained  in  the 
propagation  and  practice  of  religious  tenets  contrary  to  the 
general  faith,  and  the  laws  founded  on  it,  and  yet  be  entirely 
protected  in  person  and  property,  and  in  all  rights  and  privi- 
leges common  to  all  citizens.  If  they  cannot  submit  to  the 
prohibition,  they  must  make  up  their  minds  either  to  endure 
it,  or  remove  out  of  the  country.  The  citizens  of  a  common- 
wealth say  to  them,  "  We  have  our  constitution  and  laws  ;  we 
do  not  compel  you  to  adopt  them — to  believe  as  we  believe. 
We  have  nothing  to  do  with  your  faith  ;  that  is  your  own 
afl'air.  We  only  say  you  cannot  practice  it  in  our  territories  ; 
Vv^e  consider  it  injurious  to  the  state,  and  a  crime  against  our 
peace  and  order.  Stay  if  you  will,  and  retain  your  faith,  but 
practice  it  you  cannot."  Such  was  the  state  of  things  among 
the  Israelites.  The  constitution  and  laws  given  them  of  God, 
were  defensive  and  preservative ;  not  offensive  and  destruc- 
tive. As  King  in  Zion  our  Lord  never  propagated  religion 
by  force.  There  were  no  inquisitions,  no  tortures,  no  dungeons 
in  Palestine.  He  repudiated  fire  and  sword  as  well  before  as 
after  His  coming,  Luke  ix.  52-56  ;  Matt.  xxvi.  51-54.  His 
kingdom  never  w^as  of  this  world,  and  therefore  He  never  in 
any  age  sent  out  His  servants  to  destroy  heretics,  or  to  conquer 
coimtries  for  Him  ;  nor  did  He  allow  them  to  take  it  upon 
themselves  to  do  so,  John  xviii.  33-38.  The  Israelites  in  all 
their  history  were  never  a  persecuting  people.  When  they 
took  up  their  abode  in  foreign  countries,  they  demeaned  them- 


THE   PASSING   AWAY   OF   THE   COMMONWEALTH.  371 

selves  as  good  citizens,  and  only  asked  toleration  in  the 
exercise  of  their  religion.  If  it  was  denied  them,  they 
removed  ;  if  they  were  subjected  to  persecution,  they  endured 
it.  Although  opposed  to  idolatry  and  never  practising  it,  (that 
is,  the  true  Israelites,)  or  its  attendant  abominations,  and  con- 
sequently hated  by  the  heathen  as  an  unsocial,  morose,  and 
sanctimonious  sect,  they  obtained,  with  little  interruption, 
liberty  in  all  the  heathen  countries  where  they  sojourned, 
to  exercise  their  religion  and  observe  their  own  peculiar  cus- 
toms— a  liberty  allowed  them  by  all  the  heathen  nations  that 
ruled  over  them  in  their  own  country,  with  the  excej)tion  of 
Antiochus  Epiphanes,  for  a  brief  period  of  his  reign  in  Syria. 
Their  superior  intelligence,  probity,  and  virtue,  commended 
them  to  their  heathen  rulers.  The  wars  of  extermination 
carried  on  by  the  Israelites  against  the  inhabitants  of  Canaan 
were  not  religious  wars,  but  wars  of  divine  judgment,  of  which 
they  were  the  appointed  executors. 

Such  was  the  liberty  of  conscience  ordained  under  the 
commonwealth ;  but  it  was  not  strictly  maintained.  The 
people  at  times  revolted,  with  their  rulers,  against  the  statutes 
of  the  state,  and  apostatized  from  the  religion  of  the  Church, 
denying  their  God  and  King,  and  thus  were  suflfered  to  dese- 
crate the  sabbath,  to  introduce  idolatry,  and  immerse  them- 
selves in  forbidden  iniquities.  He  finally,  after  much  long- 
suffering,  vindicated  His  majesty  and  authority,  sent  the  people 
into  captivity,  and,  by  its  fires,  purged  away  idolatry.  After 
their  return  to  Judea,  sects  arose,  and  they  were  tolerated  the 
one  by  the  other,  since  their  disagreements  arose  from  conflict- 
ing scriptural  interpretations — the  fruit  of  philosophy  or  tradi- 
tion— but  no  one  sought  to  set  aside  the  Scriptures  as  the  rule 
of  faith  and  practice,  or  to  abolish  the  sabbath,  or  to  introduce 
idolatry,  or  indulge  in  unnatural  vices,  or  in  a  public  manner 
to  change  the  laws  and  customs  of  Moses.  All,  externally  at 
least,  conformed  to  them.  The  sect  which  withdrew  farthest 
from  established  order  was  the  Essenes.  They  were  left  to 
their  mysticism  and  retirement.  Tlie  contentions,  which  at 
times  became  violent  between  the  two  leading  sects,  the  Phari- 
sees and  Sadducees,  sprang  more  from  the  lust  of  power  than 


372  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHUKCH    OF   GOD. 

from  the  love  of  God.  The  persecutions  of  our  Lord  and  His 
disciples  by  the  Israelites,  (although  carried  on  under  color  of 
their  "  law,")  for  the  crimes  of  blasphemy  and  treason,  had  no 
support  in  that  lav/  ;  their  hostility  was  simply  the  acting  out 
of  the  carnal  mind  in  the  unregenerate  portion  of  the  visible 
Church — a  mind  at  enmity  ■with  God,  and  which  always  resists 
the  Holy  Ghost.  It  had  persecuted  the  prophets  of  God,  and 
shed  righteous  blood  from  Abel  to  Zacharias,  and  from  the 
blood  of  Zacharias  to  that  of  the  Holy  and  Just  One  and  His 
discij)les. 

The  commonwealth  of  Israel  fell  and  passed  away  forever, 
at  the  advent  of  Christ.  In  giving  commandments  to  His 
Apostles,  and  speaking  of  things  pertaining  to  the  Kingdom, 
He  never  intimated  that  it  should  be  restored  to  Israel ;  and, 
when  charged  before  Pilate  with  such  a  purpose,  (which 
indeed  many  expected  and  wished  Him  to  execute,)  He  told 
Pilate  that  the  charge  was  not  true  :  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of 
this  world,"  but  is  a  kingdom  spiritual  in  nature,  made  up  of 
the  faithful  and  true,  John  xviii.  35-38 ;  Luke  xxiii.  1-15. 
This  spu'itual  kingdom  He  came  to  enlarge  and  perpetuate. 
He  persecuted  no  one.  His  enemies  were  neither  to  be  con- 
sumed with  fire,  nor  slain  with  the  sword.  Said  He  to  James 
and  John,  who  wished  Him  to  call  down  fire  upon  the  inhos- 
pitable Samaritans,  "  Ye  know  not  what  manner  of  spirit  ye 
are  of.  For  the  Son  of  Man  is  not  come  to  destroy  men's  lives 
but  to  save  them,"  Luke  ix.  52-56.  He  said  to  Peter,  aftei' 
he  had  cut  off  Malchus'  ear,  "  Put  up  again  thy  sword  into  his 
place  :  for  all  they  that  take  the  sword  shall  perish  with  the 
sword.  Thinkest  thou  that  I  cannot  now  pray  to  my  Father 
and  He  shall  presently  give  me  more  than  twelve  legions  of 
angels  ?  "  Matt.  xxvi.  51-51:.  If  He  wished  to  destroy  His 
enemies.  He  had  infinite  power  to  do  it,  and  needed  not  to  set 
His  disciples  to  butcher  them.  JSTor  did  He  ever  intend  that 
they  should  use  carnal  weapons.  When  He  sent  them  to 
extend  and  establish  His  kingdom  He  armed  them  not  with 
swords  and  spefcirs,  but  with  the  Word  of  the  Gospel,  giviog 
them  the  freedom  of  the  world,  and  assuring  them  of  His 
j)resence  and  protection.     "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach 


OUR   LORD   NO   PERSECUTOR.  373 

the  Gospel  to  every  creature  :  teach  all  nations  :  when  they 
persecute  you  in  one  city  flee  ye  into  another.  Lo,  I  am  with 
you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world,"  Matt,  x.,  xxviii.  ; 
V.  38-48  ;  1  Pet.  ii.  21-23  ;  Isa.  liii.  7.  They  were  to  imitate 
His  own  spirit  and  life,  and  the  power  which  He  comniittetl  to 
them  was  spiritual  only.  He  gave  no  power  to  persecute  men, 
to  afflict  their  persons,  or  to  despoil  them  of  liberty,  property, 
or  civil  rights.  Even  in  excommunication  the  offending  mem- 
ber was  to  be  treated  not  as  an  enemy,  but  as  a  brother,  and 
every  effort  was  to  be  employed  to  win  him  back  to  his  Saviour, 
John  XX.  22-23  ;  Matt.  xvi.  19  ;  xviii.  15-18  ;  1  Cor.  v.  1-13  ; 
2  Cor.  ii.  6-8  ;  Gal.  vi.  1-2  ;  2  Thess.  iii.  6, 14r-15.  Although 
tempted  and  solicited  to  do  it,  He  scrupulously  avoided  the  ex- 
ercise of  any  authority  in  the  civil  affairs  of  the  people,  and  re- 
sisted all  overtures  of  temporal  power,  Matt.  xxii.  17-22  ; 
John  viii.  1-11 ;  Luke  xii.  13-14  ;  John  vi.  14-15. 

The  Apostles  followed  His  instructions  and  example.  The 
civil  state  of  the  Church  being  broken  up,  the  people  of  God 
were  no  longer  to  be  confined  to  Palestine,  and  they  went 
everywhere  preaching  the  Gospel.  Ifeither  Peter,  nor  Paul, 
nor  any  of  the  Apostles  attempted  to  set  up  an  ecclesiastical 
state  with  civil  powers,  nor  a  civil  state  with  ecclesiastical 
powers.  They  sought  no  alliance  with  the  state,  but  j)reserved 
the  Church  distinct  from  it  and  demeaned  themselves  under 
all  governments  as  peaceful  citizens,  praying  for  all  in  author- 
ity, obeying  the  laws  themselves  and  inculcating  obedience 
thereto.  What  they  sought  was  freedom  to  worship  God 
according  to  His  Word,  and  to  propagate  that  Word.  If 
denied  that  freedom,  they  raised  no  rebellion  against  the  gov- 
ernment. If  persecuted  for  their  faith,  they  committed  them- 
selves to  God,  and,  if  necessary,  suffered  and  died ;  or,  when 
possible,  fled  into  other  lands,  1  Cor.  v.  1-13 ;  Rom.  xiii.  1-7 ; 
Titus  iii.  1 ;  Acts.  Jews  and  Gentiles  persecuted  them,  and 
sought  the  aid  of  the  civil  power ;  but  the  disciples  of  Christ 
persecuted  neither  the  one  nor  the  other,  and  sought  no  aid 
from  the  state  to  do  so.  They  appealed  to  the  civil  power,  as 
citizens  only,  to  establish  their  innocence  from  false  charges, 
and  to  deliver  them  from  the  violence  of  lawless  men.     This 


374  THE   HISTOKT   OF   THE   CHTECH   OF   GOD. 

protection  they  were  entitled  to  as  citizens, — Acts  xii.  1-17 ; 
\dii.  1-13,  50-52 ;  xiv.  20  ;  xvi.  35-40 ;  xxii.  24-29 ;  xxv. 
9-12  ;  xxvi.  32.  For  power  to  make  Christianity  triumphant 
they  looked  to  God,  not  to  man.  * 

So  far  all  is  plain.  But  suj^pose  Christians  should  be  in 
such  circumstances  as  to  be  able  to  frame  a  government  of 
their  own,  what  liberty  of  conscience  should  they  allow,  and 
where  should  they  look  for  direction?  Would  the  ancient 
commonwealth  of  Israel  be  a  suitable  pattern  to  follow  ?  It 
"would  as  far  as  the  altered  nature  of  circumstances  allowed ; 
for  God  is  no  longer  the  personal  and  absolute  king  of  any 
nation,  but  indirectly  so  of  all  nations,  through  powers 
ordained  in  His  providence.  This  mu-ch  ought  a  Christian 
people  to  do,  namely,  acknowledge  the  God  of  Revelation  to 
be  the  only  living  and  true  God,  require  all  oaths  of  govern- 
ment to  be  administered  in  His  name — He  alone  being  the 
Judge  of  all  the  earth,  and  able  to  reward  every  man  accord- 
ing to  his  works — and  acknowledge  Him  as  the  God  of  the 
nation,  by  invoking  His  blessing  in  all  national  councils  and 
legislatures.  His  Holy  Scriptures  should  be  regarded  as  the 
only  and  all-sufficient  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  their  free  cir- 
culation encouraged  among  all  classes,  and  their  introduction 
permitted  into  schools  of  public  instruction  for  the  children  and 
youth  of  the  land.  Keligious  biblical  instruction  should  be 
furnished  to  all  citizens  employed  in  the  public  service  ;  the 
Sabbath  preserved  as  a  day  of  rest  from  ordinary  labor,  and  a 
day  of  sacred  worship  ;  the  marriage  relation  regulated  ;  and 
the  manner  of  legalizing  the  same  ;  adultery,  polygamy,  incest, 
sodomy,  and  bestiality  should  be  punished  ;  and  the  establish- 
ment of  idolatry  prevented,  with  its  loose  morals  and  abomina- 
tions. All  these  great  principles  of  religion  and  morality  owe 
their  clearness  and  authority  to  Revelation,  and  demand  an 
acknowledgment  in  Christian  governments. 

All  laws  and  institutions  of  government  should  have  their 
foundation  in  some  standard  of  right  and  wrong,  whether  that 
standard  be  the  light  of  nature,  or  the  light  of  Revelation. 
Heathen  governments  adopt  the  former,  and  Christian  govern- 
ments the  latter.     Governments  are  accounted  in  God's  sight  as 


CIIEISTIAN   LIBEKTT   OF   CONSCIENCE.  375 

individuals ;  tliey  have  characters  of  good  or  evil.  He  rewards 
them  according  to  their  works.  They  arc  subject  alike  to  His 
judgments  and  mercies,  as  they  acknowledge  or  reject  Him. 
It  is  an  error  to  affirm  that  governments  are  without  responsi- 
bility to  God,  and  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  religion  of  the 
people,  either  in  the  way  of  recognition,  or  of  protection  ;  for 
whence  are  laws  protecting  the  exercise  of  religion  itself, 
and  laws  forbidding  crimes,  (and,  by  consequence,  though  not 
expressed,  enjoining  the  contrary  virtues,)  ostensibly  derived, 
if  not  from  the  religion  of  the  people  ?  "  Government  is  for 
the  punishment  of  evil-doers,  and  for  the  praise  of  them  that 
do  well."  It  is  the  ministry  of  God.  Outward  acts  esteemed 
criminal  in  religion  are  ordinarily  accounted  so  in  the  state. 
The  religion  of  a  people  determines  the  character  of  their  laws. 
It  has  been  so  from  the  earliest  existence  of  nations.  So 
intimate  has  been  the  connection  between  religion  and  law, 
that  the  universal  custom  of  the  world  has  been  to  associate 
the  king  and  the  priest — the  civil  and  the  ecclesiastical  power 
— using  them  conjointly  in  government.  It  was  so  in  Egypt, 
in  Persia,  Media,  Babylonia,  Syria,  Greece,  and  Eome ;  it  was 
so  among  all  the  barbaric  and  idolatrous  nations  of  antiquity  ; 
it  is  so  with  them  now,  and  with  nearly  all  the  kingdoms  in 
Europe  even  at  this  day,  civilized  and  enlightened  as  thev 
assume  to  be.  The  connection  how^ever  has  not  been  so  close 
in  all  ages  as  to  bind  up  the  consciences  of  the  people  to  one 
and  only  one  system  of  doctrines  and  worship.  Liberty  of  con- 
science was  allowed  with  restrictions  even  among  the  heathen 
nations.  Their  acknowledged  religion  was  idolatry ;  and 
liberty  of  conscience  was  allowed  in  the  number  and  character 
of  the  idols  worshipped,  as  well  as  in  the  doctrines  concerning 
the  gods,  but  with  restrictions.  The  worshippers  of  diflferent 
gods  were  not  allowed  to  persecute  or  oppress  each  other. 
None  were  allowed  to  introduce  new  gods  without  the  consent 
of  the  state.  The  Athenians  put  Socrates  to  death  on  the 
charge  (false  however)  of  violating  these  laws.  No  king  might 
force  his  own  particular  religious  tenets  upon  his  subjects. 
Antiochus  Epiphanes,  whatever  might  have  been  his  secret 
motives,  lost  his  life  in  attempting  to  bring  the  Syrian  Empire 


376  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

to  adopt  the  worship)  of  his  own  Jupiter ;  and  he  is  a  singular 
example  of  a  heathen  persecutor  of  the  heathen.  Rome 
adopted  idolatry  and  tolerated  every  kind  of  god ;  but  one 
form  of  idolatry  Rome  would  not  tolerate.  The  Egyptian 
priests,  with  their  abominable  rites,  were  expelled  the  country. 
The  Greek  and  Latin  writers  took  great  liberties,  and  without 
fine  or  imprisonment,  in  discussing  the  merits  of  the  gods,  and 
in  ridiculing  the  folly  of  idolatry.  The  early  persecutions  of 
Christians  were  based  upon  the  denial  of  the  acknowledged 
gods  of  the  nations,  and  the  tendency  of  tlieir  faith  to  over- 
throw the  legalized  religion  of  the  times.  Manifold  other 
charges  and  calumnies  further  aggravated  the  heathen  against 
them. 

The  governments  of  the  world,  with  a  few  and  transient 
exceptions,  have  been  arbitrary,  and  not  popular — originated, 
sustained,  and  carried  on  not  by  the  concurrent  and  sponta- 
neous action  of  the  people,  but  by  mere  power  lodged,  no  matter 
by  what  means,  in  the  hands  of  a  monarch  or  an  aristocracy', 
and  a  coalition  of  priests.  The  union  of  the  ecclesiastical  with 
the  civil  power,  has  made  them  irresistible  for  good  or  for 
evil.  When  the  heathen  nations  of  Europe  became  christian- 
ized (nominally  at  least),  the  same  arbitrary  forms  of  govern- 
ment in  the  main  continued,  and  for  the  most  part  continue 
now.  True  liberty  of  conscience  lies  at  the  mercy  of  "  the 
powers  that  be."  How  much  it  has  been  repressed  and 
afflicted,  the  history  of  Europe  for  many  centuries  is  ample 
witness ;  and  the  ignorance  and  degradation  of  the  neglected 
masses  have  favored  spiritual  despotism  and  persecution.  The 
most  intolerant  governments  are  Roman  Catholic,  and  the 
worst  among  them  all  is  that  of  the  Pope  himself.  He  and 
his  followers  prescribe  one  faith,  a  heathenized  Christianity, 
and  proscribe  all  other  faiths  differing  from  it.  The  people 
who  oppose  them,  whom  they  have  not  power  to  imprison, 
torture,  and  slay  with  lire  and  sword,  they  curse  spirit- 
ually and  eternally  ! 

The  "Word  of  God  gradually  shed  light  on  the  question  of  the 
liberty  of  conscience,  until  it  generated  the  Reformation,  when 
Luther  made  every  man  his  own  Pope  ;  that  is,  established  the 


PKIVATE   INTEEPEETATION   OF   TEE    SCRIPTUKES.  377 

right  of  private  judgment  in  interpreting  the  Scriptures  and 
determining  therefrom  his  faith  and  practice.  Such  honor  is 
ascribed  to  him  and  his  coadjutors.  What  suffering  witnesses 
for  the  truth  had  contended  for  in  fire  and  blood  long  before 
them,  they  established  in  the  day  of  God's  power,  and  His 
Church's  redemption.  But  the  progress  of  the  light  has  been 
much  impeded.  Church  and  state  are  still  linked  together. 
Mankind  have  been  slow  to  relinquish  power,  wealth,  and  im- 
memorial customs,  to  adopt  the  teachings  of  God  in  the  com- 
monwealth of  Israel  respecting  liberty  of  conscience,  as  well  as 
the  teachings  of  our  Saviour  in  His  severance  of  Church  and 
state,  granting  to  every  man  the  right  of  private  judgment  ac- 
cording to  the  true  and  only  standard,  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

To  conclude :  while  the  great  principles  of  religion  and 
morality  now  suggested,  and  derived  from  the  commonwealth 
of  Israel,  should  be  part  and  parcel  of  the  laws  of  a  truly 
Christian  government,  it  should  proceed  no  further  with  the 
conscience  of  the  people,  but  lay  the  Scriptures  open  to  private 
judgment — God  being  the  only  Lord  of  the  conscience — and 
let  every  man  determine  for  himself  its  doctrines  and  duties, 
his  creed  and  worship,  with  liberty  of  preaching  and  discussion. 
In  the  case  of  those  who  would  openly  oppose  the  princii^les 
referred  to  and  enacted  in  the  laws,  let  them  be  restrained,  but 
not  persecuted  or  oppressed.  Grant  them  liberty  of  con- 
science, but  with  the  prescribed  limitations.  If  men  are  suffered 
to  become  citizens,  and  to  introduce,  under  plea  of  liberty  of 
conscience,  their  differing  systems  of  faith  and  j^ractice,  the 
result  must  be  anarchy.  "What  one  would  build,  another 
would  destroy ;  one  would  have  no  God  and  no  oaths ; 
another,  no  Scriptures  and  no  day  of  rest  and  religious  service ; 
and  another,  no  law  of  Christian  marriage.  Piety,  justice, 
mercy,  purity,  and  truth,  would  be  trampled  down  in  the 
streets.  The  constitution  and  laws  based  upon  the  standard  of 
God's  Word  should  rule  in  a  Christian  commonwealtli,  and  it 
requires  great  care,  in  framing  and  in  executing  the  laws,  to 
suppress  licentiousness  on  the  one  hand,  and  avoid  persecution 
on  the  other. 


378  THE  HISTOKY   OF  THE  CHUKCH  OF    GOD. 


CHAPTER  XXIY. 

the  chukch  leaves  sinai. — hobab  goes  with  moses. — jouknets  and 
sojourn  in  the  wilderness  for  forty  years. — conduct  op  the 
people  and  their  judgments. — obliged  to  enter  the  promised 
land  from  the  east  op  jordan. — the  amorites  destroyed. — 
Balaam's  prophecies. — Israel  numbered  a  second  time,  and  the 

DESIGN     of      it. — JOSHUA,     MOSES'     SUCCESSOR. — ORDINATION. — MOSES' 
FAREWELL     DISCOURSE,     SONG,    AND     BLESSINGS.  —  HIS     DEATH.  —  HIS 
PROPHECIES. — TYPICAL   NATURE   OP  BONDAGE    AND   DELIVERY  OP   THE 
.CHURCH. — STATE  OP  RELIGION  UNDER  MOSES. 

The  great  encampment  is  broken  up,  and  tlie  Clmrch  de- 
parts from  the  mount  of  the  Lord,  "  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of 
the  Lord,"  going  before  to  search  out  a  resting-place.  When 
it  set  forward,  Moses  said,  "  Rise,  Lord,  and  let  thine  enemies 
be  scattered,  and  let  tliem  that  hate  thee  flee  before  thee ! 
And  when  it  rested,  he  said.  Return,  O  Lord,  unto  the  many- 
thousands  of  Israel."  After  three  days'  journey  they  pitched 
in  Kibroth-hattaavah,  I^Tumb.  x.  33-36  ;  xi.  34-35  ;  Numb, 
xxxiii.  16. 

^  Reuel,  (Exod.  ii.  16-21,)  or  Raguel,  (Numb.  x.  29,  the 
same  word  in  the  original,)  or  Jethro,  Moses'  father-in-law,  liad 
visited  him  at  Sinai,  (Exod.  xviii.  1-27,)  and  had  returned  to 
his  own  home  ;  but  Hobab,  Jethro's  son,  was  at  Sinai  when 
the  removal  took  place,  and  Moses  invited  him  to  go  with 
them  and  share  in  the  promised  mercies  of  the  Lord,  and  to 
render  them  assistance  in  their  encampments  in  the  wilderness 
by  his  counsels  and  experience.  From  the  subsequent  history, 
Hobab  complied,  for  the  children  of  Moses'  father-in-law  at- 


JOURNEYS   EST   THE   WILDERNESS.  379 

tached  themselves  to  the  tribe  of  Judah  upon  entering  the 
promised  land,  Judges  i.  IG.  Afterwards,  "  Jael,  the  wife  of 
Heber  the  Kenite,  son  of  Hobab,  slew  Sisera  with  a  nail  of  the 
tent,"  and  assisted  in  delivering  Israel  from  Jabin,  king  of 
Canaan,  Judges  iv.  11-24.  In  this  passage  Hobab  is  called 
Moses'  father-in-law  ;  but,  as  the  original  word  signifies  also  a 
son-in-law,  or  a  near  kinsman,  it  should  be  taken  to  signify  Mo- 
ses' brother-in-law,  which  he  is  said  to  have  been,  ITumb.  x.  29. 

The  Kenites  "were  spared  by  Saul  when  he  went  to  destroy 
the  Amalekites,  (1  Sam.  xv.  6,)  on  account  of  the  kindness 
they  showed  the  children  of  Israel  when  they  came  up  out  of 
Egypt.  From  the  Kenites  descended  the  Eechabites,  2  Ki.  x. 
15  ;  1  Chron.  ii.  55,  of  whom  honorable  mention  is  made  by 
Jeremiah,  xxxv.  1-19,  for  their  obedience  to  their  father  Jona- 
dab  ;  and  the  Lord  pronounced  a  blessing  upon  them :  "  There- 
fore, saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  the  God  of  Israel :  Jonadab,  the 
son  of  Rechab,  shall  not  want  a  man  to  stand  before  me  for- 
ever." The  Eechabites  have  been  discovered  in  the  East  in 
our  day,  after  more  than  twenty-four  hundred  years,  still  ad- 
hering to  the  commands  of  theil'  father,  and  not  wanting  a 
man  to  stand  before  the  Lord.  The  promise  made  by  Moses 
to  Hobab,  "  Come  thou  with  us,  and  we  will  do  thee  good, 
for  the  Lord  hath  spoken  good  concerning  Israel,"  has  been 
remarkably  fulfilled  in  Hobab's  posterity. 

Moses  preserved,  Numb,  xxxii.,  an  accurate  record  of  the 
journeys  of  the  children  of  Israel  from  Rameses  in  Egypt  to 
Shittim  in  Moab — their  last  resting-place  before  crossing  the 
Jordan  :  "  These  are  the  journeys  of  the  children  of  Israel 
which  went  forth  out  of  the  land  of  Eg}"|)t  with  their  armies 
under  the  hand  of  Moses  and  Aaron.  And  Moses  wrote  their 
goings  out  according  to  their  journeys,  by  the  commandment 
of  the  Lord:  and  these  are  their  journeys  according  to  their 
goings  out."  They  took  their  departure  from  their  grand  ren- 
dezvous in  Egypt,  Eamcses :  their  twelfth  encampment  brought 
them  into  the  wilderness,  before  Mount  Sinai ;  and  their 
fortj^-second,  to  Shittim,  in  the  plains  of  Moab  by  Jordan, 
near  Jericho. 

They  were  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  and  made  forty- 


380  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH   OF  GOD. 

two  principal  and  distinct  encampments,  including  Rameses 
and  Shittim,  the  first  and  the  last.  The  time  they  tarried  at 
each,  was  varied,  and  always  determined  by  the  Lord.  There 
is  no  record  of  these  encampments,  but  that  of  Moses  ;  nor 
does  he  give  any  description,  except  of  a  very  few,  whereby 
their  locality  might  be  identified.  He  defines  the  route  trav- 
elled, so  that  it  might  be  traced  from  beginning  to  end.  No 
attempts  were  made  to  identify  either  the  place  or  the  route 
for  two  thousand  years  after  Moses.  The  Israelites  merely 
encamped.  They  built  no  cities  and  left  no  monuments  in  the 
desert ;  consequently,  all  vestiges  of  their  passage  must  have 
been  soon  obliterated,  and  the  names  of  their  encampments,  in 
such  a  lapse  of  time,  changed  or  forgotten,  or  superseded  by 
others.  The  labors  and  learned  efforts  of  distinguished  travel- 
lers and  scholars  who  have  devoted  themselves  to  the  solution 
of  these  matters,  have  shed  some  light  and  been  of  great  value 
in  several  respects,  yet  they  have  not  succeeded  in  perfectly 
satisfying  their  own  minds,  or  in  agreeing  with  one  another, 
in  respect  to  even  some  of  the  more  remarkable  marches  and 
prominent  places  of  encampment.  The  precise  spot  where  the 
children  of  Israel  crossed  the  western  arm  of  the  Red  Sea  ;  the 
position  of  the  encampment  before  Sinai,  and  the  course  they 
took  after  leaving  Sinai,  together  with,  their  various  wander- 
ings for  thirty  years  in  the  wilderness,  are  all  obscured  by 
doubts  and  conflicting  opinions,  and  may  never  be  accurately 
determined.  The  march  from  Egypt  to  Canaan  was  accom- 
plished over  three  thousand  years  ago,  and  nothing  important 
depends  upon  the  accurate  determination  of  its  stages  or  its 
course.  It  is  enough  to  know  that  all  necessary  particulars  of 
the  deliverance,  and  of  the  march,  are  narrated  in  the  inspired 
Word  of  God ;  that  the  inspired  narrative  was  in  posses- 
sion of  the  very  people  who  were  delivered,  and  who  passed 
through  the  wilderness  ;  that  it  was  received  by  them  as  au- 
thentic, and  as  such  was  transmitted  to  their  children  and 
children's  children  to  a  thousand  generations.  Moreover,  the 
grand  features  of  the  country,  the  names  of  prominent  locali- 
ties, and  their  relative  positions,  remain  unchanged,  showing 
the  foundations  of  that  sacred  narrative  to  be  true.      We  have 


CONDTJCT  OF  THE  ISKAELITES.  381 

Egypt  now  as  it  was  then,  the  Eed  Sea,  the  mountains  of 
Siuai,  the  terrible  wilderness,  the  mountains  of  Edom,  the 
Dead  Sea,  Moab,  the  Jordan,  Jericho,  and  Canaan. 

The  children  of  Israel  had  not  gone  three  days'  journey 
from  Sinai — that  mountain  of  wonders,  judgments,  and  mercies 
— ere  they  complained  against  God,  and  He  sent  fire  and  con- 
sumed them  that  were  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  camp  ; 
but  He  graciously  quenched  the  fire  upon  the  cry  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  the  prayer  of  Moses.  The  name  of  the  place  was 
called  Taberah,  or  burning.  This  fire  had  scarcely  ceased, 
before  the  mixed  multitude  that  came  out  of  Egypt,  Exod.  xii. 
38,  fell  a-lusting,  and  were  joined  by  the  children  of  Israel, 
who  wept  and  sighed  after  the  good  things  of  Egypt,  saying, 
"  Who  shall  give  us  flesh  to  eat  ?  "  The  Lord  (as  He  had  done 
a  year  before,  Exod.  xvi.  13)  sent  quails  to  suflice  them  for  a 
month ;  but  while  the  flesh  was  in  their  impenitent  mouths, 
He  smote  them  with  a  very  great  plague,  slaying  the  fattest 
of  them,  and  smiting  down  the  chosen  men  of  Israel.  The 
place  was  named  Kjbroth-hattaavah  (the  graves  of  lust) ;  for 
there  they  buried  the  people  that  lusted,  Numb.  xi.  1-35  ;  Ps. 
Ixxviii.  26-31 ;  cvi.  13-15.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Moses, 
worn  out  with  the  waywardness  of  the  people,  prayed  God  to 
release  him  by  death  from  his  charge,  if  it  were  always  to  be  at- 
tended with  such  trials.  The  Lord  gave  him  seventy  elders  to 
bear  the  burden  of  the  people  with  him.  At  the  next  stage, 
Hazeroth,  Miriam  and  Aaron  asserted  their  equality  with  Moses, 
and  spake  against  him  as  governor  and  leader  of  the  people. 
Moses  was  justified  ;  Miriam  and  Aaron  condemned.  Miriam 
was  afflicted  with  leprosy,  but  both  were  pardoned  at  the 
prayer  of  Moses,  Numb.  xii.  1-16.  The  next  remove  was 
to  Kithmah,  Numb,  xxxiii.  18,  and  thence,  stage  by  stage, 
they  went  through  all  that  great  and  terrible  wilderness 
which  they  saw  by  the  way  of  the  mountain  of  the  Amorites.  , 
In  eleven  days  they  came,  Deut.  i.  2,  to  Kadesh-barnea,  in  I 
the  wilderness  of  Paran,  Deut.  i.  19  ;  Numb.  xiii.  26,  on  the 
borders  of  Canaan,  south  and  west  of  Jordan,  Moses  ad- 
dressed the  people  in  the  assurance  of  a  speedy  entry  into 
and  occupation  of  the  promised  land.     "  Ye  are  come  uuto  the 


382  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHTJKCH   OF   GOD. 

mountain  of  the  Amorites,  which  the  Lord  our  God  doth  give 
imto  ns.     Behold,  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  set  the  land  before 
thee :    go  up  and  possess  it,  as  the  Lord  God  of  thy  fathers 
hath  said  unto  thee  :  fear  not,  neither  be  discouraged."     They 
proposed  to  send  men  to  search  out  the  land,  and  bring  them 
word  by  what  way  they  should  go  up,  and  to  what  cities  they 
should  come — a  prudent  measure,  which  "  pleased  Moses  well." 
He  took  twelve  rulers,  one  of  a  tribe,  and  giving  them  instruc- 
tions, sent  them  to  spy  out  the  land.     They  traversed  it  from 
south  to  north,  and  returned  after  an  absence  of  forty  days. 
Ten  brought  back  an  evil  report  of  the  land  as  a  country  to  be 
inhabited,  and  asserted  its  conquest  an  impossibility.     Two, 
Joshua  and  Caleb,  gave  an  adverse  report,  saying,  "  It  is  a 
good  land  which  the  Lord  our  God  doth  give  us.    Let  us  go  up 
at  once  and  possess  it,  for  we  are  well  able  to  overcome  it." 
But  the  people  believed  the  -majority  of  the  spies,  rebelled 
against  the  commandment,  distrusted  the  promises  of  the  Lord, 
and,  yielding  to  their  fears,  resolved  to  make  a  captain,  and 
return  to  Egypt,  despite  the  faith,  eloquence,  and  influence  of 
Moses,  Aaron,  Caleb,  and  Joshua.    Yea,  more,  they  gave  com- 
mandment to  stone  these  faithful  men,  and  were  arrested  in 
their  murderous  intent  only  by  the  instant  appearance  of  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  in  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation.     The 
Lord  proposed  to  smite  them  with  the  pestilence,  to  disinherit 
them,  and  to  make  of  Moses  a  greater  nation  and  mightier 
than  they  ;  but  Moses  interceded  for  the  people,  and  prevailed. 
It  was  the  tenth  time  they  had  tempted  God,  and  would  not 
obey  His  voice  ;  so  He  sware  in  His  wrath  that  not  one  of  the 
men  of  that  evil  generation  that  had  provoked  Him,  from  twen- 
ty years  old  and  upward,  should  enter  into  that  good  land ; 
their  carcasses  should  fall  in  the  wilderness.  "  But  my  servants 
Caleb  and  Joshua,  because  they  had  another  spirit  with  them, 
and  have  followed  me  fully,  them  will  I  bring  into  the  land 
whereinto  they  went :    and  their  seed  shall  possess  it.     But 
your  little  ones,  which  ye  said  should  be  a  prey,  them  will 
I  bring  in,  and  they  shall  know  the  land  which  ye  have  de- 
spised, and  they  shall  wander  in  the  wilderness  forty  years, 
and  bear  your  whoredoms,  until  your  carcasses  be  wasted  in 


JUDGMENTS   INPLICTED   ON   THE   PEOPLE.  383 

the  wilderness.  After  the  number  of  the  days  in  whicli  yc 
searched  the  land,  even  forty  days,  each  day  for  a  year,  shall 
ye  bear  your  iniquities,  even  forty  years  :  and  ye  sliall  know 
my  breach  of  promise  " — that  is,  the  altering  of  the  divine 
purpose,  since  they  had  broken  God's  covenant  and  forfeited 
His  favor.  "  I  the  Lord  have  said,  I  will  surely  do  it  unto 
this  evil  congregation  that  are  gathered  against  me  :  in  this 
wilderness  they  shall  be  consumed,  and  there  they  shall  die." 
The  judgment  at  once  began — the  ten  spies  died  by  the  plague 
before  the  Lord. 

The  message  and  judgment  of  God  awed  the  people,  and 
"  they  mourned  greatly  :  "  and  the  next  morning,  confessing 
their  sin,  they  resolved  to  go  up  in  force  and  possess  the  land. 
Moses  remonstrated,  but  "  it  was  too  late,  for  God  had  forbid- 
den it.  Should  they  presumptuously  go,  they  would  be  smit- 
ten before  their  enemies  ;  the  Lord  would  not  be  with  them." 
They  presumed  to  go,  while  Moses  and  the  ark  remained  in 
the  camp,  and  they  were  discomfited  and  driven  back  !  jS^umb. 
xiv.  1-45  ;  Dent.  i.  1-46. 

The  children  of  Israel  abode  in  Kadesh  many  days,  then  at 
God's  command  turned  back  into  the  wilderness  by  way  of  the   i 
Red  Sea,  and  "  compassed  Mount  Seir  many  days."     In  and  j 
about  these  mountains  they  spent  nearly  eight  and  thirty  years. 
During  this  long  time  nothing  of  their  history  reaches  us,  save 
the  rebellion  of  Korah  against  the  regency  of  Moses  and  the 
priesthood  of  Aaron,  the  delivery  of  sundry  laws,  jSTumb.  xv. 
to  xix,  and  the  catalogue  of  their  encampments.     At  the  end  . 
of  these  years,  the  Lord  said  to  Moses,  "  Ye  have  compassed  } 
the  mountain  long  enough,  turn  you  northward,"  Deut.  ii.  1-7. 
They  came  a  second  time  to  Kadesli-barnea,  and  this  was  in 
the  first  month  of  the  fortieth  year  after  they  left   Egypt, 
Kumb.  XX.  1.     "While  in  Kadesh,  Miriam,  that  distinguished 
mother  in  Israel,  died  and  was  buried.     Here  also  it  was  that 
the  people  murmured  for  water,  and  provoked  the  spirit  of 
Moses,  Ps.  cvi.  32-33,   and  both  he  and  Aaron   "  rebelled 
against  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  ;  "  they  did  not  execute 
it  in  the  spirit  and  manner  enjoined,  iJs^umb.  xx.  1-12  ;    xxvii. 
14 ;    nor  did  they  repose  their  trust  in  God  at  this  juncture, 


384:  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

and  openly  sanctify  and  exalt  Him  in  the  eyes  of  the  people. 
They  spake  "  unadvisedly  with  their  lips,"  and  assumed  a 
sovereign  power  to  themselves,  saying,  "  Hear  now,  ye  rebels, 
must  we  fetch  you  water  out  of  this  rock  ? "  Moses  in  his 
anger  smote  the  rock  with  his  rod  "  twice."  For  this  sin  of 
rebellion,  unbelief,  and  presumption,  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses 
and  Aaron,  "  Ye  shall  not  bring  this  congregation  into  the 
land  which  I  have  given  them."  Nor  would  the  Lord  alter 
the  word  which  had  gone  out  of  His  mouth,  though  Moses 
prayed  earnestly  for  it,  Deut.  iii.  23-27. 

From  this  city,  in  the  uttermost  border  of  Edom,  Moses 
sent  messengers  to  the  king  of  Edom,  requesting  a  peacefid 
passage  through  his  dominions ;  but  the  king  refused,  and 
came  out  in  great  force  to  repel  them.  So  failed  this  second 
attempt  to  enter  Canaan  from  the  south,  and  on  the  west  of 
Jordan.  No  alternative  remained  but  for  Israel  to  return 
southward,  go  round  the  Dead  Sea,  and  effect  an  entrance  on 
the  east  of  Jordan.  Wherefore  Israel  turned  away  from  the 
king  of  Edom,  journeyed  from  Kadesh,  and  came  to  Mount 
Hor,  which  is  rendered  memorable  by  the  extraordinary  death 
of  Aaron.  At  God's  command,  in  perfect  health,  he  went  up 
into  the  mount  with  Moses  and  Eleazer  his  son,  in  the  sight  of 
all  Israel.  There,  with  his  brother  and  his  ^on,  his  priestly 
garments  were  taken  from  him,  and  put  upon  his  son  and  suc- 
cessor. His  work  being  ended  in  the  Church,  this  eminent 
saint  of  the  Lord  calmly  died,  and  was  gathered  unto  the  rest 
which  remains  to  the  people  of  God ;  and  all  the  house  of 
Israel  mourned  for  Aaron  thirty  days,  Numb.  xx.  1-29 ; 
Deut.  ii.  8. 

At  this  time  the  children  of  Israel  utterly  destroyed  Arad, 
a  king  of  the  Canaanites,  and  his  people,  Numb.  xxi.  1-3. 

From  Mount  Hor  they  journeyed  by  the  way  of  the  Red 
Sea  to  compass  the  land  of  Edom,  and  the  soul  of  the  people 
was  much  discouraged  because  of  the  way,  and  they  spake 
against  God  and  against  Moses.  The  Lord  sent  fiery  serpents 
among  the  people,  and  they  bit  the  people,  and  many  of  them 
died.  They  were  finally  delivered  by  Moses  lifting  up  the 
brazen  serpent,  (a  type  of  the  great  Redeemer,  John  iii.  1-16,) 


DESTEUCTION   OF   THE   AMORITES.  385 

and  this  brazen  serpent  was  preserved  above  seven  hundred 
years,  to  the  reign  of  Ilezekiah,  king  of  Jndah,  who  destroyed 
it  because  the  people  Avorshipped  it ;  and  he  called  it,  Nchush- 
tau,  ("  a  piece  of  brass,")  and  therefore  no  God,  Numb.  xxi. 
4-9  ;  2  Ki.  xviii.  1-4. 

Reaching  Ezion-gaber  on  the  eastern  branch  or  gulf  of  the 
Red  Sea,  the  people  turned  and  passed  by  the  way  of  the  wil- 
derness of  Moab,  east  of  the  Dead  Sea,  crossing  the  brook 
Zared,  and  entered  the  land  of  Moab,  Numb.  xxi.  10-12, 
Upon  the  passage  of  this  brook,  Moses  remarks,  "  And  the 
space  in  which  we  came  from  Kadesh-barnea,"  i.  c,  the  space 
of  time  from  their  first  leaving  Kadesh-barnea  on  the  return 
of  the  spies,  (]!^umb.  xiii.  ;  Dent.  i.  46,)  "  until  we  were  come 
over  the  brook  Zared,  was  thirty  and  eight  years  :  until  all  the 
generation  of  the  men  of  war  were  wasted  out  from  among  the 
host,  as  the  Lord  sware  unto  them.  For  indeed  the  hand  of 
the  Lord  was  against  tliem,  to  destroy  them  from  among  the 
host  until  they  were  consumed,"  Deut.  ii.  9-15.  They  passed 
quietly  through  the  territories  of  Moab,  and  disturbed  not  the 
Ammonites,  whose  country  lay  to  the  right  and  east  of  Moab  : 
for  to  Moab  and  Ammon,  the  children  of  Lot,  the  Lord  had 
given  their  lands  for  a  perpetual  inheritance,  Deut.  ii.  9-23. 
The  river  Arnon  was  the  northern  boundary  of  Moab,  beyond 
which  lay  the  kingdom  of  the  Amorites,  one  of  the  devoted 
nations,  Gen.  xv.  21.  Their  territories  extended  east  and  west 
on  both  sides  the  Jordan,  Josh.  x.  1-10.  Five  kings  reign- 
ing on  the  west,  and  two  on  the  east  of  Jordan,  namely,  Sihon, 
who  dwelt  at  Heshbon  ;  and  Og,  who  dwelt  at  Ashtaroth  and 
at  Edrei,  Josh.  xii.  1-5  ;  Deut.  i.  1-4.  The  Amorites  under 
SIhon  and  Og,  and  the  Canaanites  under  king  Arad,  were  the 
only  portions  of  the  devoted  nations  that  Moses  himself  over- 
threw and  subdued  before  Israel,  Deut.  i.  1-14 ;  ISTumb. 
xxi.  1-3. 

Crossing  the  Arnon  several  stages,  Moses  sent  messengers 
to  Sihon  requesting  a  peaceful  passage  through  his  territories, 
which  he  refused,  and  marched  out  against  Israel :  "  for  the 
Lord  God  hardened  his  spirit  and  made  his  heart  obstinate, 
that  He  might  deliver  him  into  the  hand  of  Israel."  Thev 
25 


386  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

"  smote  him,  and  Lis  sons,  and  his  people,  and  took  all  his 
cities,  and  utterly  destroyed  the  men,  and  the  women,  and  the 
little  ones,  of  every  city,  and  left  none  to  remain  ;  the  cattle 
and  the  spoil  of  the  cities  were  taken  for  a  prey,"  Niunb.  xxi. 
13-32  ;  Dent,  ii.  24—37.  Then  Moses  turned  his  arms  against 
Og,  king  of  Bashan,  and  defeated  him  in  battle  at  Edrei,  sub- 
duing his  entire  kingdom,  utterly  destroying  men,  women,  and 
children  of  every  city,  and  taking  the  cattle  and  spoil  of  the 
cities  for  a  prey,  even  as  was  done  unto  Sihon  and  his  king- 
dom, Numb.  xxi.  33-85  ;  Deut.  iii.  1-16.  "  Then  pitched  the 
children  of  Israel  in  the  plains  of  Moab  by  Jordan,  near 
Jericho,  and  abode  in  Shittim,"  Numb.  xxii.  1 ;  xxv.  1 ; 
xxxiv.  48-49  ;  Josh.  ii.  1.  Many  notable  events  oeurred  while 
they  lay  in  this  their  last  encampment  before  crossing  the 
Jordan. 

Balak,  king  of  Moab,  beholding  the  destruction  of  the 
Amorites,  and  fearing  lest  Israel  should  "  lick  up  all  that  was 
round  about  them,  as  the  ox  licketh  up  the  grass  of  the  field," 
sent  and  brought  Balaam  the  prophet  out  of  Pethor  of  Meso- 
potamia, "  out  of  the  mountains  of  the  east,"  to  curse  Israel, 
so  that  Israel  might  wither  and  perish,  or  be  so  weakened  that 
Balak  himself  perhaps  might  drive  them  out  of  the  land^ 
Numb.  xxii.  1-6  ;  xxiii.  Y  ;  xxxi.  1-8.  .  Who  was  this  mighty 
man  Balaam,  known  in  countries  distant  from  his  own,  and 
held  in  fear  and  great  reputation  ?  for  said  Balak  :  "  Curse  me 
this  people ;  for  I  wot  that  he  whom  thou  blessest  is  blessed, 
and  he  whom  thou  cursest  is  cursed."  Joshua,  chap.  xiii. 
22,  calls  him,  "  Balaam  the  soothsayer  "  or  diviner.  Balak,  a 
heathen  man,  conceived  him  to  be  such  a  one,  for  his  mes- 
sengers departed  for  Balaam  "  with  the  rewards  of  divination 
in  their  hand,"  Numb.  xxii.  7.  The  Apostle  Peter  calls  him  a 
"prophet,"  2  Pet.  ii.  15-16,  in  the  exercise  of  his  office 
setting  an  example  of  covetousness  and  folly  which  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  false  teachers  of  his  day.  He  says  Balaam 
"  loved  the  wages  of  unrighteousness,"  and  that  his  dumb  ass 
rebuked  his  iniquity  in  disobeying  God,  and  going  after  he  had 
been  forbidden,  and  with  the  hope,  peradventure,  that  he 
might  divine  or  prophesy  to  please  Balak  and  obtain  his  re- 


THE   PKOPHECIES   OF   BALAAil.  387 

wards.  Of  such  prophets  Micah  writes,  (iii.  11,)  "  the  prophets 
thereof  divine  for  money  :  "  "  they  pervert  their  office  through 
covetousness  ;  "  "  they  all  look  to  their  own  way  :  every  one 
for  his  gain  from  his  own  quarter,"  Isa.  Ixvi.  11.  According 
to  Jude,  this  was  "  the  eiTor  of  Balaam."  But  he  proceeded 
a  step  further  and  deeper  in  his  iniquitous  desire  for  reward. 
He  infamously  counselled  Balak  to  seduce  the  Israelites, 
through  the  women  of  his  country,  into  the  .abominations  of 
uncleanness  and  idolatry,  in  order  tliat  the  Lord — a  God  of 
holiness  and  jealous  of  His  glory — might  be  tm-ned  against 
them,  and  destroy  them  before  Moab,  thereby  obtaining  the 
honor  and  rewards  which  Balak  had  in  store  for  him.  Surely 
he  had  "  eyes  full  of  adultery,  and  that  could  not  cease  from 
sin,  beguiling  unstable  souls  :  a  heart  exercised  with  covetous 
practices,  and  one  of  the  cursed  children,"  2  Pet.  ii.  1-4-16  ; 
!N"umb.  xxxi.  14:-16  ;  Eev.  ii.  14.  The  righteous  Lord  plagued 
the  people  for  falling  into  the  snare  of  Balaam  and  Balak, 
Numb.  XXV.  1-9  ;  xxxi.  16  ;  Dent.  iii.  3,  three  thousand  dying 
in  one  day,  1  Chron.  x.  7-8  ;  and  one  thousand  at  another 
time  being  hung  and  slain  with  the  sword  as  public  examples 
by  command  of  the  Lord,  Numb.  xxv.  1-5  ;  yet  He  hearkened 
not  to  Balaam,  but  turned  his  curse  into  a  blessing,  for  He 
would  not  take  away  His  loving-kindness  from  His  people. 
To  this  mercy  shown  them  on  this  occasion,  beautiful  allusion 
is  made  many  years  after  in  Micah.  "  O  my  people  !  remem- 
ber now  what  Balak,  king  of  Moab,  consulted,  and  what 
Balaam,  the  son  of  Beor,  answered  him  from  Shittim  unto 
Gilgal,  that  3^e  may  know  the  righteousness  of  the  Lord," 
Mic.  vi.  5. 

Balaam  was  officially  a  true  prophet,  for  he  communicated 
with  and  sought  the  will  of  God  in  the  ordinary  way  of 
prophets,  and  the  Lord  spake  directly  to  him,  and  inspired  him 
to  utter  prophecies  concerning  Israel  and  the  coming  and  glory 
of  the  Messiah,  Nimib.  xxii.-xxiv.  But,  judging  from  his 
conduct  and  the  views  expressed  of  him  in  the  Scriptures,  he 
was  doubtless  an  unconverted  man — officially  but  not  effiictu-  / 
ally  called.  The  Lord  expresses  His  anger  aginst  him  in  his 
conduct  with  Balak  •  he  is  mentioned  with  condemnation,  and 


388  THE    HISTOET   OF   THE   CHUKCH    OF   GOD. 

was  ill  the  end  slain  among  the  enemies  of  God  with  the  sword 
of  judgment,  Numb.  xxxi.  8.  He  was  true  in  prophecy,  but 
false  in  character.  The  Lord  in  His  wisdom  has  permitted  it 
to  be  so.  There  are  hay  and  stubble  in  the  Church,  as  well  as 
gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones.  Judas  was  a  true  Apostle, 
but  no  Christian,  John  vi.  70  ;  Phil.  iii.  17-21. 

The  prophecies  of  Balaam  are  four,  delivered  at  brief  in- 
tervals, and  each  containing  some  new  matter.  First :  Numb, 
xxiii.  1-10.  1.  That  Israel  should  be  a  people  under  God's 
special  protection  and  blessing,  against  whom  no  curse  could 
be  uttered,  vs.  8.  2.  That  they  should  dwell  alone,  distinct 
from,  and  not  reckoned  among  the  nations,  vs.  9  ;  Deut. 
xxxiii.  27-29.  3.  That  they  should  be  a  numerous  people,  vs. 
10.  This  prophecy  of  the  happy  lot  of  God's  people  he  con- 
cludes by  looking  forward  to  their  blessedness  beyond  the 
grave,  and  exclaiming,  "  Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  right- 
eous, and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his  !  "  vs.  10,  which  breathes 
of  the  immortahty  of  the  soul,  and  the  doctrine  of  future 
rewards  and  punishments,  as  in  Deut.  xxxii.  29  ;  Job  xix. 
25-27 ;  Ps.  xxxvii.  37  ;  Prov.  xiv.  32.  Second  :  Numb,  xxiii. 
11-26.  1.  That  God's  unchangeable  love  is  set  upon  Israel, 
whom  He  had  redeemed  unto  Himself  out  of  Egypt ;  that  He 
is  King  in  Israel,  and  His  purposes  of  good  towards  Israel  can 
never  be  altered,  vs.  18-23.  2.  That  Israel  shall  abide  in  strength 
and  overcome  all  their  enemies,  vs.  24.  Third :  Numb.  xxiv. 
1-9.  1.  Balaam  predicts  the  peace  which  God's  redeemed 
people  should  enjoy,  and  their  exaltation  to  be  chief  of  the 
nations,  vs.  5-8.  2.  The  destruction  of  the  nations  that  should 
be  their  enemies  (the  Canaanites  are  primarily  referred  to). 
They  only  should  be  blessed  who  blessed  Israel,  vs.  8-9. 
Fourth :  Numb.  xxiv.  10-25.  1.  He  predicts  the  destruction 
of  the  Moabites,  the  children  of  Seth,  and  the  Edomites,  by  a 
star  that  should  come  out  of  Jacob,  and  a  sceptre  that  should 
rise  out  of  Israel ;  that  is,  by  a  ruler  or  king  of  great  glory  and 
power,  who  in  prophetic  vision  he  saw  should  come,  not  now 
but  in  future  times ;  which  prophecy  was  fulfilled  in  David 
many  years  after — the  type  of  the  true  star  and  sceptre  of 
Israel,  the  Messiah  who  should  come  out  of  Jacob,  and  have 


CENSUS   OF   THE   TRIBES.  389 

preeminently  the  dominion  of  snbduing  every  enemy,  vs.  15- 
19  ;  2  Sam.  viii.  2-14  ;  Matt.  ii.  1-9  ;  Luke  i.  T8  ;  1  Pet.  i.  19  ; 
Eev.  xxii.  16  ;  Gen.  xlix.  10  ;  Ps.  xlv.  1-7  ;  Ixxviii.  70-72  ; 
ex.  1-7  ;  Ixxii.  1-20  ;  Isa.  ix.  67  ;  Luke  i.  32-33.  2.  He  predicts 
the  overthrow  of  the  Amalekites  and  the  Kenites,  Num.  xxiv. 
vs.  20-21.  3.  The  inroads  and  captivities  of  Asshnr  or  the  Assy- 
rians, vs.  22,  which  would  be  very  dreadful :  "  Alas  !  who  shall 
live  when  God  doeth  this  ?  "  4.  The  affliction  of  Asshur  and 
Eber,  tlie  Assyrians  and  Hebrews,  by  nations  coming  in  ships 
from  Chittim,  the  western  nations,  namely,  the  Macedonians 
and  Pomans  ;  and  5.  The  destruction  of  these  powers  in  turn 
forever,  vs.  24, — prophecies  which  strengthened  the  hearts  and 
nerved  the  hands  of  the  people  of  God  at  the  time  of  their 
delivery,  and  contain  an  epitome  of  their  history  to  the  coming 
of  Christ,  and  for  a  long  time  after. 

The  affair  of  Balaam  and  the  plague  of  judgment  beiug 
over,  ITumb.  xxv.  1-18,  Moses  and  Eleazar  were  commanded 
to  number  the  people  from  twenty  years  old  and  upward. 
The  first  enumeration,  or  census,  was  taken  at  Mount  Sinai 
on  the  first  day  of  the  second  month,  in  the  second  year  after 
they  came  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  Kumb.  i.  1-54.  In  both 
censuses  eleven  tribes  were  numbered,  but  the  division  of  the 
tribe  of  Joseph  into  two,  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  made  the 
number  twelve.     The  priestly  tribe  of  Levi  was  not  numbered. 

x\t  the  exodus,  Moses  reckoned  the  men  able  for  every  duty 
at  600,000,  Exod.  xii.  37.  The  first  census  at  Sinai,  thirteen 
months  after,  gave  603,550,  an  increase  of  3,550  ;  and  tlie 
second  census,  thirty-eight  years  after,  gave  601,730,  a  decrease 
of  1,820.  Tlie  five  tribes,  Reuben,  Simeou,  Gad,  Ephraim, 
and  Naphtali,  decreased  in  the  aggregate  61,020:  and  the 
seven  tribes,  Judahj  Issachar,  Zebulon,  Manasseh,  Benjamin, 
Dan,  and  Asher,  increased  in  the  aggregate  59,200.  For  the 
first  thirteen  months  no  heavy  judgments  befell  the  people  to 
reduce  their  numbers,  and  the  ordhiary  proportion  of  births 
and  deaths  was  maintained.  But  for  thirty-eight  years  after, 
they  wandei'ed  in  the  wilderness,  bearing  the  iniquity  of  their 
oft-repeated  sins,  and  especially  the  sin  of  unbelief  and  rebel- 
lion in  refusing  to  enter  and  take  possession  of  the  promised 


390  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUECH    OF   GOD. 

land  ;  for  this  every  male  over  twenty  years  was  condemned 
to  die  in  the  wilderness.  And  so  it  came  to  pass,  for,  in  the 
second  census,  Moses  remarks,  "  These  are  they  that  were 
numbered  by  Moses  and  Eleazar  the  priest,  who  numbered  the 
children  of  Israel  in  the  plains  of  Moab,  by  Jordan,  near 
Jericho.  But  among  tliose  there  was  not  a  man  of  them 
whom  Moses  and  Aaron  the  priest  numbered,  when,  they  num- 
bered the  children  of  Israel  in  the  wilderness  of  Sinai.  For 
the  Lord  had  said  of  them.  They  shall  surely  die  in  the  wilder- 
ness. And  there  was  not  left  a  man  of  them,  save  Caleb,  the 
son  of  Jephunneh,  and  Joshua,  the  son  of  Nun,"  Numb.  xxvi. 
63-65.  The  increase  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  was  very  trifling :  at 
the  first  census  all  the  males  from  a  month  old  and  upward 
were  22,000,  Numb,  iii,  39  ;  at  the  second  census,  23,000, 
Numb.  xxvi.  62 — an  increase  in  thirty-eight  years  of  1,000 
only  ! 

The  second  census  was  not  taken  until  the  plague  for  the 
sin  of  Moab  liad  done  its  work.  The  ordinary  annual  mor- 
tality of  mankind  is  from  two  to  three  per  cent.  When  the 
mortality  balances  the  increase,  it  becomes  very  considerable ; 
but  when  it  exceeds  the  increase,  then  extraordinary  causes  are 
in  operation  to  produce  so  disastrous  an  effect.  The  wilderness 
in  which  the  children  of  Israel  wandered  could  not  be  consid- 
ered an  unhealthy  country  ;  they  were  not  crowded,  so  as  to 
gender  disease,  for  ample  space  was  allowed  for  each  encamp- 
ment, and  between  the  several  encampments ;  every  precau- 
tion was  taken  to  prevent  the  accumulation  of  matter  for  the 
production  of  diseases  ;  they  could  not  die  from  scarcity  of  food 
or  water,  for  the  Lord  supplied  them  ampl}^  and  daily  ;  they 
were  not  wasted  by  external  or  internal  Avars  ;  nor  were  the 
people  of  a  feeble  or  sickly  race.  Yet  their  number  Avas  al- 
most stationary  ;  for,  if  we  reckon  in  the  Levites,  and  subtract 
their  increase  of  1,000  from  the  decrease  of  all  the  tribes,  Adz., 
1,820,  the  result  is  a  decrease  of  820.  The  cause  of  this  must 
be  ascribed  principally  to  the  judgments  of  God  for  their  sins. 
Some  of  these  judgments  are  particularly  mentioned :  for 
example,  the  fire  of  the  Lord  consumed  the  people  in  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  camp  at  Taberah,  Numb.  xi.  1 ;    a  great 


JOSHUA,    MOSES'    SUCCESSOE.  391 

plague  fell  upon  them  at  Kibrotli-hattaavah,  Numb.  xi.  33  ; 
the  Amalekites  slew  some  of  them,  Numb.  xiv.  40-45  ;  the 
earth  swallowed  up  Korah  and  his  company,  Numb.  xvi.  25- 
35  ;  and,  for  murmuring  against  Moses  and  Aaron  for  this 
judgment,  14,700  were  swept  ofi'  by  a  plague,  Numb.  xvi. 
41-50.  Many  died  by  the  Hery  serpents.  Numb.  xxi.  4-9  ; 
and  for  the  sins  of  Moab  the  plague  destroyed  24,000.  All 
these  judgments  fell  upon  the  Israelites  in  the  second  and  in 
the  fortieth  year  of  their  wanderings.  For  thirty-eight  years 
there  is  scarcely  any  history  of  them  at  all,  but  they  were  con- 
suming under  the  sentence,  "  they  shall  not  enter  into  my 
rest."  The  aifecting  prayer  of  Moses  in  the  Ninetieth  Psalm  is 
not  only  a  description  of,  but  also  a  commentary  on  these  years 
of  sorrow.  "  God  set  their  iniquities  before  Him,  and  their 
secret  sins  in  the  light  of  His  countenance,  and  they  were  con- 
sumed by  His  anger,  and  by  His  wrath  Avere  they  troubled." 

The  second  census  proved  the  fiilfilment  of  God's  threaten- 
ing against  the  unbelieving  generation.  Numb.  xxvi.  63-63,  and 
also  His  faithfulness  in  preserving  His  people.  It  also  pre- 
pared them  for  a  just  division  of  the  promised  land.  "  And 
the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  saying.  Unto  these  the  land  shall 
be  divided  for  an  inheritance,  according  to  the  number  of  the 
names.  To  many  thou  shalt  give  the  more  inheritance,  and  to 
the  few  thou  shalt  give  the  less  inheritance  :  notwithstanding, 
the  land  shall  be  divided  by  lot,  according  to  the  lot  shall  the 
possession  thereof  be  divided  between  many  and  few,"  Numb, 
xxvi.  51-56.  The  land  being  surveyed  and  unequally  divided 
in  extent  into  the  requisite  number  of  shares  by  men  divinel}' 
appointed  for  that  purpose,  the  possession  of  each  tribe  was 
then  determined  by  lot,  or,  in  other  words,  by  the  Lord  Him- 
self, so  that  every  possible  ground  of  dissatisfaction  or  com- 
plaint was  forever  taken  away. 

Moses,  warned  of  his  death,  earnestly  entreated  God  to 
appoint  a  successor,  "  that  the  congregation  of  the  Lord  be  not 
as  sheep  which  have  no  shepherd."  The  Lord  appointed 
Joshua,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  high-priest  Eleazer  and  all 
the  people,  he  was  solemnly  ordained  to  his  office  by  the  im- 
position of  the  hands  of  Moses,  who  also  gave  him  a  charge  in 


392  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

their  sight ;  Numb,  xxvii.  12-23,  which  introduces  the  first 
instance  on  record  of  the  imposition  of  hands,  in  the  act  of 
designating  and  setting  apart  one  person  to  a  sacred  office 
by  another  preceding  him  in  that  office.  It  is  a  ceremony 
ordained  of  tlie  Lord,  and  signifies  His  choice  of  the  individual 
to  the  office,  and  his  solemn  investiture  with  all  the  authority, 
dignities,  and  duties  of  that  office.  The  individual,  on  his 
part,  accepts  tlie  office  from  the  Lord  and  engages  himself  to  a 
due  discharge  of  the  same.  When  ordained  over  a  particular 
people,  they  receive  him  as  the  minister  of  God,  and  as  such 
promise  him  all  due  reverence  and  obedience.  This  is  the 
substance  of  the  act  of  ordination  by  the  imposition  of  hands. 
The  right  to  ordination  on  the  part  of  the  individual  desiring 
it,  is  founded  upon  what  the  Church  deems  an  explicit  call  of 
God  of  the  individual  to  the  office,  and  God's  bestowal  upon 
him  of  the  necessary  qualifications  thereto  ;  for  it  is  the  prerog- 
ative of  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  to  ordain  the  offices  and 
call  and  qualify  men  for  them.  Hence  the  act  of  ordination  is 
declarative  of  the  mind  and  will  of  God,  that  such  an  individ- 
ual is  called  by  Him  to  such  an  office  ;  and  is  designed  for  the 
maintenance  of  order  and  discipline,  that  no  man  take  office 
of  his  own  motion,  and  introduce  folly  and  confusion  into  His 
Church. 

The  persons  ordaining,  in  and  of  themselves,  give  no  call 
and  impart  no  grace  of  office  whatever ;  their  act  is  ministerial 
and  declarative.  God  makes  the  officer  ;  they  recognize  His 
making,  and,  acting  for  God  by  the  laying  on  of  their  hands, 
they  set  apart  the  candidate  to  the  exercise  of  tliat  office, 
openly  and  orderly  receiving  him  into  the  Church.  Moses 
neither  called  nor  qualified  Joslma  for  his  office.  He  did  not 
convey  any  grace  to  him,  but  merely  set  him  apart  before  the 
people  as  the  man  divinely  chosen  to  be  his  successor,  and 
whom  they  were  to  receive  and  obey,  because  thus  called, 
qualified,  and  appointed  of  God,  Acts  vi.  6 ;  1  Tim.  iv.  14 ; 
v.  22. 

The  divine  call  however  to  office  in  the  Church  was  not 
invariably  attended  with  the  imposition  of  the  hands  of  men. 
Xo  hands  were  ever  laid  upon  Moses ;   none  upon  the  high 


ORDINATION   OF   JOSHUA.  393 

priest — Moses  poiu-ed  the  oil  of  consecration  upon  liis  head. 
Who  poured  the  oil  upon  the  heads  of  his  successors  is  not  of 
record.  No  hands  were  ever  laid  upon  the  first  sons  of  Aaron, 
who  were  consecrated  to  the  priesthood  by  peculiar  sacrifices 
and  ceremonies.  Tliere  was  no  imposition  of  hands  upon  their 
successors,  nor  were  they  consecrated  by  any  sacrifices  and 
ceremonies — the  one  consecration  of  their  fathers  sufficed  for 
all.  The  imposition  of  the  hands  of  the  people  upon  the 
Levites,  was  expressive  of  substitution,  since  they  were  accepted 
in  the  ministry  in  the  place  of  the  first-born.  The  ceremony 
did  not  descend  to  their  successors.  No  one  in  this  way 
ordained  Samuel  to  be  a  prophet,  nor  is  there  evidence  that 
any  of  the  long  line  of  prophets  were  so  set  apart.  Elijah  cast 
his  mantle  upon  Elisha,  and  anomted  him  to  be  a  prophet  in 
his  room,  as  the  Lord  appointed  him.  No  laying  on  of  hands 
is  spoken  of  in  reference  to  the  schools  of  the  prophets.  The 
Lord  called  the  prophets,  and  gave  them  their  credentials — 
inspiration,  and  power  to  work  miracles.  He  laid  hands 
neither  upon  the  twelve  Apostles,  nor  upon  the  seventy 
disciples,  whom  He  sent  out  to  preach.  Their  qualifications 
proved  their  call  and  authority.  Extraordinary  officers  came 
immediately  appointed  from  the  Lord.  After  His  ascension, 
the  ordinary  and  permanent  officers  were  ordained  by  imposi- 
tion of  hands.  The  early  ordinations  were  from  the  hands  of 
the  Apostles  only,  or  the  Apostles  in  connection  with  ordinary 
ministers,  2  Tim.  i.  6  ;  1  Tim.  iv.  14 ;  comp.  Acts  xv.  40  ;  xvi. 
1-3,  or  by  ministers  who  had  received  ordination  from  the 
Apostles  ;  so  the  rule  was  laid  down  that  ministers,  when 
called  of  God,  must  be  ordained  by  imposition  of  the  hands  of 
those  who  were  before  them  in  office,  1  Tim.  v.  17,  22  ;  2  Tim. 
ii.  1-2 ;  Titus  i.  5-9  ;  Acts  vi.  1-6  ;  xiv.  23 ;  xx.  lY-38. 
Hands  were  laid  by  "  prophets  and  teachers  "  even  upon  an 
Apostle  (Paul),  not  in  a  way  of  ordination  to  office,  but  of 
designation  and  appointment  to  a  particular  work  to  which 
the  Holy  Ghost  had  called  him  and  Barnabas,  Acts  xiii.  1-3. 
Should  the  regular  succession  of  ministers  among  the  Lord's 
people  fail,  from  whatever  cause,  the  office  would  not  thereby 
and  necessarily  become  extinct.     The  Lord  in  that  case  might 


394  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF    GOD. 

call  and  qualify  an  individual  and  seal  him  as  a  true  minister, 
without  previous  ordination  of  man.  The  true  succession  lies 
not  in  an  unbroken  chain  of  ordainers,  who  may  become 
corrupt,  and  be  repudiated  both  by  the  Lord  and  His  people, 
but  in  the  divine  call  and  qualification  of  individuals  for  the 
office — these  constitute  God's  seal,  and  Avhere  that  is,  there  is 
His  ministry.  It  has,  however,  been  the  will  and  work  of  God 
to  have  always  in  His  Church  the  true  succession,  spiritually 
and  ecclesiastically,  notwithstanding  it  is  sometimes  sorely 
damaged  by  persecutions,  corruptions,  and  apostasies. 

The  events  succeeding  the  ordination  of  Joshua  were  briefly, 
the  destruction  of  the  Midianites,  without  the  loss  of  a  single 
man  ;  the  slaying  of  Balaam,  Numb.  xxxi.  1-54  ;  the  granting 
to  Eeuben,  Gad,  and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh,  their  inherit- 
ance eastward  of  Jordan,  Numb,  xxxii.  1-42 ;  the  bounding  of 
the  land  of  Canaan  west  of  Jordan,  to  be  divided  between  the 
nine  tribes  and  the  half ;  the  appointing  by  name  of  a  prince 
from  each  of  these  tribes  to  effect  the  division,  Numb,  xxxiv. 
1-29 ;  and  the  preservation,  (out  of  all  the  inheritance  of  the 
twelve  tribes,  east  and  west  of  Jordan,)  of  forty-eight  cities 
with  their  suburbs,  including  the  cities  of  refuge,  for  the 
priests  and  Levites,  Numb.  xxxv.  1-34. 

The  work  of  Moses  was  at  an  end.  Nothing  remained  for 
him  to  do  but  to  assemble  the  people,  to  deliver  his  last  words, 
and  his  last  prophecies,  to  bestow  his  blessing,  and  then  die 
and  enter  into  rest.  Therefore  in  the  fortieth  year,  and  in  the 
eleventh  month,  upon  the  first  day  of  the  month,  he  assembled 
all  Israel,  and  spake  unto  them  "  according  unto  all  that  the 
Lord  had  given  him  in  commandment  unto  them,"  introducing 
his  farewell  discourse  witli  a  brief  and  affecting  review  of  their 
history  from  the  day  they  departed  from  Sinai,  until  that  hour 
when  they  stood  in  view  of  the  promised  and  long-sought  land, 
Deut.  i.-iii.  He  repeated  the  law  of  God  which  he  had  already 
delivered,  interspersed  with  explanations  and  exhortations, 
promises  and  threatenings,  Deut.  iv.-xxvi.,  and  commanded 
that  the  law  should  be  written  on  plastered  stones  when  they 
entered  Canaan,  in  mount  Ebal ;  that  the  tribes  be  divided 
into  two  companies  and  set  over  against  each  other,  the  one 


DEATH   OF   MOSES.  395 

company  on  mount  Gerezim,  the  other  on  mount  Ebal :  from 
the  first,  the  Levitcs  to  speak  with  a  loud  voice  the  blessings  : 
and  from  the  second,  the  curses  of  the' law,  to  which  all  the 
people  should  say,  Amen,  Deut.  xxvii.-xxviii.  He  caused  the 
people  to  renew  their  covenant  with  the  Lord  (ch.  xxix-xxx.), 
alhided  to  his  advanced  age  and  approaching  end,  and  encour- 
aged them  to  go  over  and  take  possession  of  the  land  in  the 
strength  of  the  Lord.  Calling  Joshua,  he  cliarged  him  again, 
in  the  sight  of  all  Israel,  to  be  strong  and  of  good  courage,  and 
lead  the  people  into  their  promised  inheritance.  In  conclu- 
sion, he  formally  delivered  the  law,  written  in  full,  to  the 
priests  and  elders  of  Israel,  to  be  kept  in  the  tabernacle,  with 
the  command  that  it  be  read  every  seventh  year  at  the  feast  of 
tabernacles,  to  all  the  people — men,  women,  children,  and 
strangers — that  they  might  learn  and  fear  the  Lord  and  do  all 
the  words  of  the  law,  Deut  xxx.-xxxi. 

The  Lord  warned  Moses,  "  Behold  the  days  approach  that 
thou  must  die :  call  Joshua  and  present  yourselves  in  the 
tabernacle  of  the  congregation,  that  I  may  give  him  a  cliarge." 
Moses  did  so,  and  tlie  Lord  appeared  in  the  tabernacle ;  the 
pillar  of  cloud  stood  over  the  door  of  the  tabernacle,  and  the 
Lord  Himself  now  gave  Joshua,  Moses'  successor,  a  charge, 
"  Be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage  :  for  thou  shalt  bring  the 
children  of  Irsael  into  the  land  which  I  sware  unto  them  :  and 
I  will  be  with  thee."  The  Lord  also  opened  to  Moses  the 
future  backslidings  and  rebellions  of  the  people,  and  the  judg- 
ments He  would  visit  upon  them.  He  put  a  song  into  his 
mouth  which  he  should  write  down,  append  to,  and  have  laid  up 
with  the  law  in  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and  also  deliver 
himself  to  the  assembled  people,  that  it  might  be  a  warning 
unto  and  a  witness  against  them  in  time  to  come.  On  the  day 
Moses  delivered  the  song,  (of  unsurpassed  power  and  beauty,) 
the  Lord  gave  him  his  last  command,  "Get  thee  up  into  mount 
IS^ebo,  one  of  the  mountains  of  Abarim,  and  behold  the  land  of 
Canaan,  and  die  in  the  mount  and  be  gathered  unto  thy 
people  !  "  Before  a  final  separation  from  his  beloved  Israel, 
he  gave  them  his  prophetic  blessing,  a  blessing  upon  every 
tribe,  except  that  of  Simeon,  which,  for  some  unknown  reason, 


396  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

was  either  never  delivered,  or,  if  delivered,  never  recorded. 
In  the  sealing  of  the  tribes  in  Kevelation,  vii.  1-8,  Dan  is 
omitted.  Moses  ends  his  blessing  in  this  exalted  strain ; 
"  There  is  none  like  the  God  of  Jeslmrun,  who  rideth  upon  the 
heaven  in  thy  help,  and  in  his  excellency  on  the  sky.  The 
eternal  God  is  thy  refuge,  and  underneath  are  the  everlasting 
arms  :  and  he  shall  thrust  out  the  enemy  from  before  thee  : 
and  shall  say,  Destroy  them.  Israel !  thou  shalt  dwell  in  safety 
alone  :  the  fountain  of  Jacob  shall  be  upon  a  land  of  corn  and 
wine :  also  his  heavens  shall  drop  down  dew.  Happy  art 
thou,  O  Israel !  who  is  like  unto  thee,  O  people  !  saved  by  the 
Lord,  the  shield  of  thy  help,  and  who  is  the  sword  of  thy 
excellency  :  and  thine  enemies  shall  be  found  liars  unto  thee  : 
and  thou  shalt  tread  upon  their  high  places,"  Deut.  xxxiii. 
1-29.  Moses  was  now  ready  to  be  offered  ;  the  time  of  his 
departure  was  at  hand.  He  had  fought  "  a  good  fight ;  he 
had  finished  his  course  ;  he  had  kept  the  faith."  The  crown 
of  righteousness  and  the  day  of  rest  were  before  him,  "  And 
-Moses  went  up  from  the  plains  of  Moab  unto  the  mountain  of 
Nebo,  to  the  top  of  Pisgah,  that  is  over  against  Jericho.  And 
the  Lord  shewed  him  all  the  land  of  Gilead  unto  Dan,  and  all 
Naphtali,  and  the  land  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  and  all  the 
land  of  Judah,  unto  the  utmost  sea,  and  the  South,  and  the 
plain  of  the  valley  of  Jericho,  the  city  of  palm-trees,  unto  Zoar. 
And  the  Lord  said  unto  him.  This  is  the  land  which  I  sware 
unto  Abraham,  unto  Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob,  saying,  I  will  give 
it  unto  thy  seed  :  I  have  caused  thee  to  see  it  with  thine  eyes, 
but  thou  shalt  not  go  over  thither.  So  Moses  the  servant  of 
the  Lord  died  there  in  the  land  of  Moab,  according  to  the 
word  of  the  Lord  :  and  He  buried  him  in  a  valley  in  the  land 
of  Moab,  over  against  Beth-peor  :  but  no  man  knoweth  of  his 
sepulchre  unto  this  day.  And  Moses  was  an  hundred  and 
twenty  years  old  when  he  died  :  his  eye  was  not  dim,  nor  his 
natural  force  abated.  And  the  children  of  Israel  wept  for 
Moses  in  the  plains  of  Moab  thirty  days.  So  the  days  of 
weeping  and  mourning  for  Moses  were  ended.  And  there 
arose  not  a  prophet  since  in  Israel  like  unto  Moses,  whom  the 
Lord  knew  face  to  face  :    in  all  the  sierns  and  wonders  which 


PAETICULAE  AND  GENERAL  PROPHECIES.         397 

the  Lord  sent  him  to  do  in  the  land  of  Egypt  to  Pharaoh  and 
to  all  his  servants  and  to  all  his  land  :  and  in  all  that  niiglitv 
hand  and  in  all  the  great  terror  which  Moses  shewed  in  the 
sight  of  all  Israel,"  Dent,  xxxiv.  1-12. 

A  notice  of  the  prophecies  of  Moses,  the  typical  nature  of 
the  bondage  and  delivery,  and  the  state  of  religion  during  the 
administration  of  Moses,  will  close  this  portion  of  the  Church's 
history. 

Moses'  prophecies  of  Christ  are  particular,  and  of  the 
Church  general. 

Particular  Prophecies  of  Christ. — Of  Him  Moses  continu- 
ally wrote  in  prophetic  types — in  the  paschal  lamb,  the  vari- 
ous sacrifices,  the  tabernacle,  the  priesthood,  the  manna,  the 
rock,  and  the  brazen  serpent.  The  children  of  Israel,  terrified 
by  the  voice  of  God  from  Sinai,  and  the  displays  of  His 
majesty,  prayed  that  He  would  not  again  speak  to  them  face 
to  face,  but  only  through  a  mediator.  The  Lord  answered 
Moses,  "They  have  well  spoken  that  which  they  have  spoken," 
which,  in  connection  with  what  follows,  we  understand  thus : 
"  They  have  well  spoken  that  which  they  have  spoken.  I  will 
speak  to  them  only  tlirongh  a  mediator  and  prophet ;  through 
thee  now,  with  wliom  I  speak  '  mouth  to  month  :'  my  '  simili- 
tude '  hast  thou  beheld,  N'umb.  xii.  7-9,  and  thou  art  '  faithful 
in  all  my  house.'  "  After  thee,  "  I  will  raise  them  up  a 
prophet  among  their  brethren  like  unto  thee  ;  and  I  will  put 
my  words  in  His  mouth,  and  He  shall  speak  unto  them  all  that 
I  shall  command  Him  :  and  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  whoso- 
ever will  not  hearken  unto  my  words,  which  He  shall  speak  in 
my  name,  I  will  require  it  of  him,"  Exod.  xx.  19  ;  Dent,  xviii. 
15-19  ;  Acts  iii.  22-23  ;  vii.  37.  Parallels  arc  drawn  between 
Moses  and  Christ — the  type  and  the  antitype — in  many  minute 
particulars  in  their  characters,  history,  office,  and  labors  ;  but 
the  special  similarity  is,  that  our  Lord  was  to  be,  like  Moses, 
a  mediator  between  God  and  His  people — their  lawgiver  and 
judge — Dent.  v.  5  ;  "  not  as  a  servant,"  as  Moses  was,  but 
infinitely  higher — "  a  son  in  his  own  house,"  Heb.  iii.  1-6. 
In  tiie  fulness  of  time,  God  raised  Him  up  from  among  his 
brethren  of  the  seed  of  Abraham,  Heb.  ii.  16,  and  He  came 


398  THE   HISTOEY   OF  THE   CHUKCH    OF   GOD. 

from  the  bosom  of  the  Father  in  majesty,  in  supreme  power 
and  authority,  Heb.  i.  1-2  ;  iii.  1-7 ;  Col.  i.  18 ;  the  great 
teacher,  John  iii.  2 ;  the  one  Mediator,  1  Tim.  ii.  5,  and  Head 
and  Ruler  of  His  people  Israel,  Luke  i.  31-33.  He  spake  as 
one  having  authority,  Matt.  vii.  29  ;  He  declared  and  did  the 
will  of  God,  as  He  received  commandment,  John  v.  17—17, 
fulfilling  all  that  went  before  in  Moses,  Matt.  v.  17-18  ;  Luke 
xxiv.  4:tt-45,  performing  that  which  was  lacking,  Heb.  vii.  19  ; 
ix.,  X.,  and  setting  in  order  all  things  pertaining  to  His  Church 
until  the  end  of  all  things,  John  xiv.  16-17,  26  ;  Matt,  xxviii. 
18-20  ;  Acts  i.  1-8  ;  1  Cor.  xiii.  3-31.  The  voice  of  the  Lord 
to  His  Church  is,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son  in  whom  I  am 
well  pleased,  hear  ye  Him,"  Matt.  xvii.  5  ;  "  this  is  that 
prophet  which  was  to  come  into  the  world  like  unto  Moses," 
John  vii.  40  :  vi.  14.  If  Moses  was  to  be  obeyed  at  the  peril 
of  divine  displeasure,  much-  more  He  who  was  greater  than 
Moses,  Heb.  ii.  1-4 ;  x.  28-31 ;  xii.  24-26  ;  Ps.  ii.  10-12. 
This  is  the  God-man,  the  Mediator,  the  Chief  Shepherd,  whose 
-voice  the  sheep  hear,  and  who  is  mercifully  and  faithfully  lead- 
ing His  flock  through  the  wilderness  of  this  world  to  the 
rest  of  Canaan  above,  Acts  iii.  19-23  ;  vii.  37,  52  ;  John  x. 
27-30. 

General  ProjylieGies  of  the  Church. — They  are  found  chiefly 
in  Levit.  xxvi. ;  Deut.  xxvii.-xxxi.  Moses  briefly  predicts  the 
establishment  of  a  kingly  government  over  the  people,  Deut. 
xvii.  14-20  ;  comp.  1  Sam.  viii.-xii. ;  their  entrance  into  and 
possession  of  the  promised  land,  Deut.  xxvii. ;  their  declensions 
after  his  death,  and  the  various  fortunes  of  diflereut  tribes, 
Deut.  xxxi.  24-30  ;  xxxiii.  1-29  ;  the  captivities  under  the 
Assyrians,  Babylonians,  and  Eomans,  and  restoration  upon 
repentance,  Levit.  xxvi.  40-45  ;  Deut.  xxx.  1-8 ;  the  fearful 
siege  and  overthrow  of  Jerusalem  and  final  desolation  of  the 
civic  state ;  and  the  sale  and  dispersion  of  the  miserable  captives, 
Deut.  xxviii.  32-68  ;  Levit.  xxvi.  23-39  ; — the  great  prophecies, 
like  those  of  Jacob  and  Balaam,  reaching  unto  and  beyond  the 
coming  of  our  Lord.  The  succeeding  prophets  saw  many  of 
these  predictions  fulfilled,  and  in  their  own  names  repeated 
and   enlarged  those  that  remained  to   be  fulfilled.      Jacob, 


GOVERNMENT  OF  GOD  OVEE  THE  CHUKCH.        399 

Balaam,  and  Moses,  drew  the  outlines ;  the  succeeding  prophets 
filled  up  the  picture  of  the  history  of  the  Church  of  God. 

The  government  of  God  over  His  Church  is  a  great  deep. 
Why  did  He  remove  the  Church  into  Egypt,  subject  it  there 
to  cruel  bondage,  deliver  it  in  the  wonderful  manner,  and  by 
the  instruments  He  did,  cause  it  to  wander  in  the  waste  howl- 
ing wilderness  for  forty  years,  and,  finally,  through  afflictions 
and  wars,  to  enter  in  and  possess  the  promised  rest  ?  The 
Apostle  Paul  answers  :  "  Now  all  these  things  happened  unto 
them  for  ensamples,"  (literally,  "  types,")  "  and  they  are 
written  for  our  admonition,  upon  whom  the  ends  of  the  world 
are  come,"  1  Cor.  x.  1-2.  What  is  the  bondage  under  a  cruel 
and  oppressive  king  but  a  type  of  the  spiritual  bondage  of  the 
Lord's  people  under  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil  ?  What 
are  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt,  and  the  various  pleasures  which 
the  Israelites  enjoyed  in  their  bondage,  and  often  remembered 
in  the  desert,  but  types  of  the  pleasures  of  sin,  to  which 
God's  people  were  once  addicted,  by  which  they  are,  in  their 
partially  sanctified  state,  often  tempted,  and  after  which  they 
would  go,  especially  in  seasons  of  trials  and  afflictions,  when 
their  faith  is  weak  and  wavering  ?  What  the  deliverance  from 
hopeless  bondage,  by  tlie  grace  and  power  of  God,  through  a 
Kedeemer  raised  up  for  the  special  purpose,  but  the  tyj)e  of 
the  salvation  of  God's  lost  but  elect  ones,  through  the  riches 
of  His  grace  and  power  in  Christ  Jesus  ?  What  the  march 
and  sojourn  in  the  terrible  wilderness,  with  its  trials,  and  what 
the  unbelief,  the  murmurings,  the  rebellions  of  the  people — 
and  what  the  mercies,  the  long-suff'erings,  the  judgments,  and 
chastisements  of  God,  whereby  they  were  tried,  reproved,  cor- 
rected, purified,  and  prepared  for  the  promised  land,  but  the 
types  of  the  lives  of  the  saints  in  this  unfriendly  world — never 
designed  for  their  rest — and  of  the  various  dealings  of  a  faithful 
and  covenant-keeping  God  towards  them,  in  order  to  prove, 
humble,  and  prepare  them  for  the  better  country  above? 
What  the  tabernacle  in  the  wilderness,  its  officers  and  ordi- 
nances, its  perpetual  service  and  constantly  preached  word, — 
and  what  the  perpetual  glory  within  the  veil,  and  the  ever- 
present  and  guiding  pillar  of  cloud  and  fire,  but  types  of  the 


4:00  THE   HIBTOEY   OF  THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

worsliip  and  word  of  God,  of  His  officers  and  ordinances  being 
made  snre  unto  and  always  to  be  found  among  His  people, 
and  of  His  perpetual  presence  in  and  headship  over  Zion, 
which  no  power  can  ever  withstand  ?  What  the  enemies  who 
resisted  their  progress,  harassed  their  march,  and  corrupted 
them  by  tlieir  blandishments,  idolatries,  and  vices,  but  types 
of  the  men  of  the  world,  who  in  various  ways  oppose  and 
impede  the  progress  of  the  people  of  God  towards  their 
promised  rest  ?  What  the  overthrow  and  destruction  of  these 
enemies,  but  the  type  of  the  final  ruin  by  the  Lord  of  those 
who  will  not  have  Him  to  reign  over  them  ?  And,  finally, 
what  is  the  passage  of  Jordan  and  the  entrance  into  and  pos- 
session, after  many  wars,  of  the  earthly  Canaan,  but  the  type 
of  the  final  triumph  of  the  Church — her  warfare  being  accom- 
plished— and  of  her  entrance  into  heaven  itself? 

The  history  thus  ordained  and  recorded,  becomes  the  store- 
house of  instruction  and  sanctification  to  the  Church  in  all 
ages  to  come. 

What  was  the  spiritual  state  of  the  Church  during  the  gov- 
ernment of  Moses,  that  is,  from  his  going  down  into  Egypt 
until  his  death  ? 

The  idolatries  and  sins  of  God's  people  in  Egypt  drew  on 
them  a  severe  and  protracted  bondage,  which,  by  His  grace, 
resulted  in  their  repentance,  preparing  them  for  the  reception 
of  Moses,  wdiom  forty  years  previously  they  had  scornfully 
rejected,  1  Sam.  xii.  6-8 ;  Exod.  iv.  28-31.  Although,  shortly 
after  his  arrival  they  were  somewhat  disaffected,  because  of 
the  increased  oppressions  of  Pharaoh,  Exod.  v.  20-21,  in  the 
mass  they  adhered  to  Moses  ;  "  by  faith,  kept  the  passover," 
and  forsook  Egypt,  not  fearing  the  wrath  of  the  king,  though 
they  were  in  a  defenceless  condition,  without  arms,  unused  to 
war,  encumbered  with  wives,  children,  baggage,  flocks,  and 
herds,  and  with  no  supplies  for  their  journey  commensu- 
rate with  their  wants.  Fearing  Pharaoh,  they  trembled  in 
unbelief  at  the  Bed  Sea,  Exod.  xiv.  11-12;  Ps.  cvi.  6-7; 
nevertheless  at  God's  command  they  went  forward,  and  "  by 
faith  passed  through  the  sea,  as  on  dry  land,  and  were  all 
baptized  unto  Moses  in  the  cloud  and  in  the  sea,"  1  Cor.  x. 


EMINENT   EXAMPLES   OF    PIETY.  401 

1-2  ;  Heb.  xi.  29.  Pharaoli  and  his  hosts  sank  like  lead  in 
the  mighty  -waters, ''  and  Israel  saw  that  great  work  which  the 
Lord  did  upon  the  Egyptians  ;  and  the  people  feared  the  Lord 
and  believed  the  Lord  and  His  servant  Moses,"  Exod.  xiv. 
22-23. 

Notwithstanding  the  wondrous  deliverance  of  the  Israelites 
from  bondage ;  the  miraculous  provisions  for  their  journey 
through  the  wilderness  ;  the  presence  of  God  in  the  pillar  of 
cloud  and  of  fire ;  His  awful  appearance  and  delivery  of  the 
law  at  Sinai ;  the  establishment  of  His  tabernacle,  in  which 
His  glory  dwelt ;  His  service,  and  all  God's  long-suffering  and 
tender  mercy  ;  the  generation  who  came  out  of  Egypt  walked 
not  in  the  ways  of  the  Lord,  Ps.  cv.-cvi.  They  frequently  mur- 
mured and  openly  rebelled,  seeking  to  stone  Moses  and  wishing 
to  return  to  Egypt.  They  practiced  idolatry,  and  fell  into  great 
transgressions,  tempting  God  and  vexing  His  Holy  Spirit,  so 
that  for  forty  years  long  was  He  grieved  with  that  generation, 
Ps.  xcv.  7-11 ;  Heb.  iii.  15-19  ;  Isa.  Ixiii.  7-14.  In  the  second 
year  after  their  exodus,  He  swore  in  His  wrath  that  the  gener- 
ation over  twenty  years,  that  came  out  of  Egypt,  should  not 
enter  into  the  promised  land  ;  and  the  carcasses  of  every  one 
fell  by  judgments  in  the  wilderness,  save  Joshua  and  Caleb  ! 
Numb.  xiv.  1-45. 

While  there  were  eminent  examples  of  ardent  piety  and 
devotion  to  God  in  the  persons  of  Moses,  Aaron,  and  Miriam, 
Joshua,  Caleb,  and  Phinehas  the  priest,  and  in  the  tribe  of 
Levi,  the  mass  of  the  people  enjoyed  but  occasional  and  very 
partial  revivals  of  religion,  living  in  great  deadness  and  back- 
sliding, formality,  and  unbelief.  The  Lord  Himself  termed 
them  an  "  evil  generation,"  Deut.  i.  34-36.  It  may  be  wrong 
however  to  conclude  that  all  who  died  in  the  wilderness  under 
the  curse  of  exclusion  from  Canaan,  died  under  a  curse  of 
exclusion  from  heaven.  They  all  had  space  for  repentance 
allowed  them,  shorter  in  the  case  of  some  and  longer  in  that 
of  others,  for  the  curse  was  protracted  for  some  thirty-eight 
years.  While  the  Lord  delayed  His  judgment,  they  had  the 
means  of  grace,  and  were  warned,  exhorted,  and  chastened. 
We  may  hope  therefore  that  the  slow  execution  of  the  judg- 
26 


402  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

ment  was  a  provision  of  mercy,  which  ultimately  proved  the 
salvation  of  some,  if  not  of  many.  It  is  sometimes  the  case 
that  when  God  does  most  for  His  Church,  the  Church  does  not 
render  the  fullest  returns,  Isa.  v.  1-4  ;  Luke  xiii.  34-35  ;  Matt, 
xi.  21-24. 

Our  history  has  advanced  2552  years,  reckoned  in  the 
following  manner :  the  book  of  Genesis,  commencing  with  the 
creation  and  ending  with  the  death  of  Joseph,  2369  years  ;  the 
book  of  Exodus,  from  the  death  of  Joseph  to  the  erection  of 
the  tabernacle  145  years  (Exod,  xl.  1-17) ;  the  book  of  Leviti- 
cus, one  month  (Levit.  i.  1 ;  Kumb.  i.  1) ;  the  book  of  Kum- 
bers,  38  years  (Numb.  i.  1 ;  Deut.  i.  3),  and  the  book  of  Deu- 
teronomy, two  months  (Deut.  xxxiv.  6) — the  aggregate,  2552 
years,  coming  down  to  the  year  1452  before  Christ. 


ENTKANCE  INTO  THE  PROMISED  LAND.  403 


CHAPTEE  XXV. 

JOSHUA  LEADS  THE  CHURCH  ACROSS  JORDAN  INTO  THE  PROMISED  LAND. — 
CELEBRATION  OF  THE  PASSOVER. — THE  CLOUD  AND  MANNA  DISAPPEAR. 
— CIRCUMCISION  OF  THE  GENERATION  BORN  IN  THE  WILDERNESS. — 
SUBJUGATION  OF  THE  LAND. — RENEWAL  OF  THE  COVENANT  AT  EBAL 
AND  GEREZEM. — THE  TABERNACLE  SET  UP  AT  SHILOH  ;  ITS  HISTORY. — 
THE  LAND  ALL  FINALLY  DIVIDED. — ARMY  FROM  EAST  OF  JORDAN 
RETURNS  HOME. — JOSHUA'S  LAST  ACTS,  AND  DEATH. — JOSEPH'S  BONES. 
— THE  GLBEONITES. — PIETY  OF  JOSHUA's  GENERATION. — CHURCH  PER- 
MANENTLY SETTLED  TILL  THE  COMING  OF  CHRIST. — NO  SUCCESSOR  TO 
JOSHUA. — THE  TRIBES  FAIL  TO  DRIVE  OUT  THE  HEATHEN. — DECLEN- 
SION.— JUDGMENTS. — THE  JUDGES. — ESTABLISHMENT  OF  KINGLY  POWER. 
— RUTH. — STATE  OP  RELIGION. — CHANGE  IN  SUCCESSION  OF  THE  HIGH 
PRIESTHOOD. — CAPTIVITY  OF  THE  ARK  ;   ITS  HISTORY. 

The  thirty  days  of  mourning  for  Moses  being  ended,  at 
God's  command  Joshna  prepared  to  lead  the  people  over 
Jordan ;  but  first  sent  two  spies  "  to  view  the  land,  even 
Jericho."  By  faith  the  harlot  Rahab  received,  preserved,  and 
dismissed  them  with  peace,  and  they  returned  to  Joshua,  say 
ing,  "  The  Lord  hath  delivered  into  our  hands  all  the  land,  for 
all  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  do  faint  because  of  us," 
Heb.  xi.  31 ;  Josh,  i.-ii. 

It  was  the  month  of  April,  and  the  Jordan  was  swollen  to 
its  outer  bank  by  the  melted  snows  from  Lebanon  and  Har- 
mon. Joshua  announced  that  as  the  Lord  God  had  dried  up 
the  waters  of  the  Red  Sea,  so  would  he  dry  up  the  waters  of 
Jordan  until  the  people  should  be  gone  over.  Hereby  would 
they  know  that  the  living  God  was  among  them,  and  would 
drive  out  the  nations  before  them,  "  that  all  the  people  of  the 
earth  might  know  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  that  it  is  mighty : 


404  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

and  tliat  ye  might  fear  the  Lord  your  God  forever."  It  was  a 
day  of  wonders  ;  for  "  when  the  feet  of  the  priests  that  bore 
the  ark  were  dipped  in  the  brim  of  the  water,  "  Jordan  was 
driven  back,"  Ps.  cxiv.  3-5  ;  the  waters  which  came  down 
from  above  "  stood  and  rose  np  upon  an  heap  ;"  those  that 
came  down  toward  the  sea  of  the  plain,  the  salt  sea,  "  failed 
and  were  cut  off;"  they  flowed  away,  leaving  the  passage 
free,  and  the  multitudes,  in  their  divisions  and  tribes,  with 
their  flocks,  herds,  and  furniture,  "  hasted  and  passed  over." 
Twelve  stones  were  set  up  in  the  midst  of  Jordan,  where  the 
priests'  feet  stood ;  and  twelve  were  taken  out  of  the  river  and 
set  up  in  Gilgal,  in  commemoration  of  the  passage.  The  Lord 
magnified  Joshua  in  the  sight  of  all  Israel ;  and  the  heart  of 
the  kings  and  people  on  the  west  side  of  Jordan  melted, 
"  neither  was  there  spirit  in  them  any  more,  because  of  the 
children  of  Israel,"  Josh,  iii.^iv. 

The  passage  was  eflected  "  on  the  tenth  day  of  the  first 
month,"  of  the  forty-first  year  from  their  leavmg  Egypt,  Josh, 
-iv.  19.  The  first  act  of  Joshua  was  to  observe  the  passover ; 
for  that  very  night.  Josh,  iv  19  ;  v.  10,  by  the  law  of  the  pass- 
over,  every  man  according  to  his  house  took  a  lamb,  Exod.  xii. 
1-20,  and  it  was  kept  up  until  the  fourteenth  day  at  even,  then 
slain ;  and,  for  seven  days,  until  the  twenty-first,  no  leaven 
was  found  in  the  houses  of  the  Israelites.  Their  circumstances 
added  to  the  solemnity  and  interest  of  tlie  feast.  Egypt  was 
no  more ;  the  wilderness  was  passed ;  the  Jordan  had  fled 
before  them  ;  they  had  entered  the  promised  land  !  It  was  an 
earnest  of  final  redemption  by  the  sprinkling  of  the  true  Lamb 
of  the  Passover,  and  of  entrance  into  the  better  country,  1 
Cor.  V.  7-8.  On  the  morning  after  the  passover  was  killed 
and  eaten,  the  old  corn  of  the  land  was  eaten — unleavened 
cakes  and  parched  corn — and  also  that  of  the  new  harvest. 
The  manna,  which  had  followed  them  across  the  Jordan  and 
fallen  four  days  in  the  promised  land,  being  no  longer  needed, 
and  having  now  fallen  for  the  space  of  forty  years,  ceased 
forever.  God  works  for  His  people  abundantly  and  perfectly, 
but  not  superfluously.  No  mention  is  made  of  the  pillar  of 
cloud  and  of  fire  at  the  passage  of  the  Jordan,  and  our  suppo- 


SUBJUGATION   OF  THE   LAND.  405 

sition  is,  that,  leading  the  people  to  their  last  encampment  in 
the  plains  of  Moab,  it  departed,  being  no  longer  necessary, 
perhaps  about  or  at  the  death  of  Moses,  Josh,  iii  1-17 ;  v. 
10-12. 

The  circumcision  of  the  males  born  in  the  wilderness  fol- 
lowed the  celebration  of  the  passover.  Every  male  that  came 
out  of  Egypt,  from  eight  days  old  and  upward,  was  circum- 
cised. Those  under  twenty  years  did  not  die  in  the  wilderness 
Wnder  the  curse  of  exclusion  for  rebellion,  but  the  men  of  war 
only,  that  is,  those  from  twenty  years  and  upward.  But  all 
born  in  the  wilderness  were  not  circumcised  for  two  reasons  : 
first,  because  the  children  of  Israel  "  walked  " — were  "  on  the 
move  " — in  the  wilderness  ;  second,  as  a  mark  of  God's  displeas- 
ure against  the  evil  oreneration  of  their  fathers.  The  rite  was 
deferred,  not  abrogated.  All  born  in  the  wilderness  were  chil- 
dren of  the  covenant  and  entitled  to  the  sign  and  seal.  The 
number  was  very  great,  "  six  hundred  and  one  thousand,  seven 
hundred  and  thirty,  over  twenty  years  and  upward,"  exclusive 
of  all  under  twenty,  to  which  were  added  twenty-three  thou- 
sand males  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  from  a  month  old  and  upward, 
ISTumb.  xxvi.  1-65.  "  This  day,"  said  the  Lord  to  Joshua, 
"  have  I  rolled  away  the  reproach  of  Egypt  from  off  you  " — 
the  reproach  of  servitude  and  of  judgment,  of  the  sins  and 
idolatries  they  contracted  there.  They  were  a  redeemed 
people  and  consecrated  anew,  Josh.  v.  1-9. 

Joshua  entered  upon  the  subjugation  of  the  land,  and  laid 
siege  to  Jericho.  Tlie  captain  of  the  Lord's  host — the  Angel 
of  the  covenant — appeared  to  him  and  gave  him  the  method 
of  the  siege  and  assault.  "  By  faith  the  walls  of  Jericho  fell 
down,"  and  "  by  faith  the  harlot  Eahab  perished  not  in  the 
overthrow  with  them  that  believed  not,"  Heb.  xi.  30-31. 

In  the  same  spirit  of  faith,  after  the  detection  and  punish- 
ment of  the  son  of  Achan,  Joshua  destroyed  Ai,  and  precipi- 
tately made  a  league  with  the  Gibeonites.  In  a  pitched  battle 
he  slew  five  kings,  (who  had  confederated  against  Gibeon,) 
overran  their  territories,  and  exterminated  the  inhabitants, 
reserving  only  the  lawful  sj)oil. 

At  the  battle  of  Gibeon,  "  God  fought  for  Israel,"  casting 


406  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

down  great  hailstones  from  heaven  upon  the  enemy ;  and,  in 
the  midst  of  the  terrible  slaughter,  the  mighty  warrior  "  com- 
manded the  sun  and  the  moon  to  stand  still."  "  The  Lord 
hearkened  unto  the  voice  of  a  man,"  "  and  the  sun  stood  still, 
and  the  moon  stayed,  until  the  people  had  avenged  themselves 
upon  their  enemies,"  Hab.  iii.  11-15.  In  this  campaign,  he 
subdued  a  considerable  portion  of  the  south  of  the  promised 
land,  across  to  Philistia,  "  and  utterly  destroyed  all  that 
breathed,  as  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  commanded,"  and  then 
returned  with  his  victorious  army  to  his  headquarters  at  Gilgal, 
Josh.  V.  13-15  ;  vi.-x. 

A  second  confederation  of  kings  drew  into  the  field  a 
multitude  as  the  sand  of  the  seashore,  which  Joshua  defeated  at 
the  waters  of  JMerom,  and,  invading  their  respective  territories, 
made  long  war  until  he  effectually  defeated  them ;  "  for  it  was 
of  the  Lord  to  harden  their  hearts  that  they  should  come  out 
against  Israel  in  battle,  that  he  might  destroy  them  utterly." 

Yet  many  Canaanites  fled — some  to  Greece,  and  others  to 
different  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa.  Joshua  cut  off  the  Ana- 
kims,  and  broke  tlie  power  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  land,  the 
Lord  aiding  by  sending  the  hornet  before  him,  Exod.  xxiii. 
28-30  ;  Deut.  vii.  20  ;  Josh.  xxiv.  12.  No  force  remained 
which  the  children  of  Israel,  relying  upon  God,  might  not 
subdue.  Moses  destroyed  two  kings  east  of  Jordan ;  two  kings 
the  Lord  drove  out  with  hornets  while  Joshua  lived ;  thirty- 
two  on  the  west  of  Jordan  Joshua  destroyed,  "  and  the  land 
rested  from  war,  Josh,  x.-xii. 

At  the  conclusion  of  these  wars  (as  we  interpret  the  sacred 
history),  the  Israelites  virtually  possessed  and  might  traverse 
the  land  without  fear.  Joshua  gathered  all  Israel  in  Shechem, 
at  mount  Ebal,  and  renewed  their  covenant  with  God,  which 
Moses  during  his  life  had  twice  commanded  to  be  done,  Deut. 
xi.  29-30  ;  xxvii.  1-26.  The  ancient  town  of  Shechem  was 
situated  in  the  narrow  and  beautiful  valley  between  mount 
Ebal  and  mount  Gerezim,  forty  miles  north  northwest  from 
Jericho,  on  the  plains  of  which  Joshua  had  at  first  encamped 
all  Israel.  Joshua,  following  the  order  of  Moses,  set  up  great 
stones,  and  plastered  them  with  plaster,  and  builded  an  altar 


RENEWAL   OF  THE   COVENANT.  407 

unto  the  Lord  in  mount  Ebal.  He  offered  thereon  burnt-offer- 
ings and  peace-offerings,  and  the  people  rejoiced  before  the 
Lord.  Then  he  wrote  on  the  plastered  stones  a  copy  of  the 
law  of  Moses,  and  caused  six  tribes,  Simeon,  Levi,  Judah, 
Issachar,  Joseph,  and  Benjamin,  to  stand  over  against  mount 
Gerezim  to  bless  ;  and  six  tribes,  Reuben,  Gad,  Aslier,  Zebu- 
Ion,  Dan,  and  Naphtali,  over  against  mount  Ebal,  to  curse 
the  people.  Tlie  law  being  read  in  their  hearing,  the  Levites 
pronounced  the  blessings  on  the  side  of  the  tribes  to  bless,  and 
the  curses  on  the  side  of  the  tribes  to  curse,  to  which  the 
people  answered  "Amen  "  to  the  blessing  after  the' blessing, 
and  "  Amen  "  to  the  curse  after  the  curse,  Deut.  xi.  29-30  ; . 
xxvii.  1-26  ;  Josh.  viii.  31-35.  Here  the  covenant  between 
God  and  His  people  was  solemnly  reaffirmed,  upon  His  put- 
ting them  in  possession  of  the  land.  Here  the  Church 
renewed  her  vows  and  her  consecration,  for  "  the  Lord  had 
brought  His  vine  out  of  Egypt,  and  cast  out  the  heathen  and 
planted  it,  and  prepared  room  before  it,  that  He  might  cause 
it  to  take  deep  root  and  fill  the  land,"  Ps.  Ixxx.  1-19. 

While  the  Israelites  lay  encamped  upon  the  plains  of 
Moab,  the  Lord  described  to  Moses  the  boundaries  of  the  land 
west  of  the  river,  and  commanded  it  to  be  divided  between 
the  nine  tribes  and  a  half.  He  appointed  by  name  Eleazcr  the 
priest,  and  Joshua,  the  son  of  iSTun,  and  ten  princes  (one  for 
every  tribe  and  one  for  the  half  tribe),  to  whom  the  division 
was  committed  when  Joshua  should  establish  them  in  possession 
of  the  land,  Numb,  xxxiv.  1-29.  In  the  sixth  year  after 
crossing  Jordan,  Joshua  proceeded  so  far  as  to  assign  lots  to 
Judah,  Ephraim,  and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh,  Josh.  xiv. 
6-14 ;  xv.-xvii ;  he  then  suspended  the  business,  and  assem- 
bled the  whole  congregation  to  set  up  the  tabernacle  per- 
manently, Josh,  xviii,  1.  The  land  had  rest,  and  it  was  time 
that  it  should  have.  A  central  place  was  required,  that  it 
might  be  as  convenient  to  all  the  tribes  as  possible.  Shiloh 
was  selected,  situated  on  the  east  side  of  the  road  leading 
north  from  Jerusalem  to  Shechem,  fifteen  miles  distant  from 
the  former  and  ten  or  twelve  from  the  latter  city,  within  the 
limits  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim  and  near  the  borders  of  Ben- 


408  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH   OF    GOD. 

jamin,  Judges  xxi.  19.  The  tabernacle  was  set  up  with 
appropriate  acts  of  worship,  and  Shiloh  became  the  sacred  city 
of  the  land — the  dwelling-place  of  Jehovah.  "While  it  stood,  it 
was  in  the  eyes  of  the  saints  of  the  Lord  like  Jerusalem  in 
after-times,  beautiful  for  situation,  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth, 
and  dear  to  the  Lord,  for  He  designated  it,  "  My  place  " — 
"  Shiloh,  where  I  set  my  name  at  the  first,"  Jer.  vii.  12 ;  Ps. 
Ixxxiv.  1-12  ;  cxxii.  1-9  ;  xlviii.  1-14  ;  Exod.  xxiii.  14-17 ; 
Josh,  xviii.  31 ;  xxii.  21-29  ;  1  Sam.  i.  1-28  ;  ii.  11-14  ;  iv. 
3-5.  The  tabernacle  continued  undisturbed  in  Shiloh  through- 
out the  reign  of  all  the  judges,  down  to  Eli ;  at  which  time  the 
ark  of  the  covenant  was  removed  to  the  army  of  Israel,  and, 
taken  captive  by  the  Philistines,  was  never  returned  to  it,  1 
Saml.  iv.  1-18.  This  captivity  of  the  ai-k  was  a  mark  of  God's 
displeasure  against  Israel,  which  He  had  intimated  beforehand 
to  Eli,  1  Saml.  ii.  27-36,  and. is  beautifully  referred  to  in  Ps. 
Ixxviii.  55-62.  "  He  cast  out  the  heathen  also  before  them 
and  divided  them  an  inheritance  by  line,  and  made  the  tribes 
of  Israel  to  dwell  in  their  tents.  Yet  they  tempted  and  pro- 
voked the  Most  High  God,  and  kept  not  His  testimonies,  but 
turned  back  and  dealt  unfaitlifully,  like  their  fathers :  they 
were  turned  aside  like  a  deceitful  bow.  For  they  provoked 
Him  to  anger  with  their  high  places,  and  moved  Him  to 
jealousy  with  their  graven  images.  When  God  heard  this  He 
was  wroth  and  greatly  abhorred  Israel,  so  that  He  forsook  the 
tabernacle  of  Shiloh,  the  tent  which  He  placed  among  men, 
and  delivered  His  strength  into  captivity,  and  His  glory  into 
the  enemy's  hand."  He  made  the  tabernacle  of  Shiloh  empti- 
ness, and  at  last  the  city  itself  a  desolation  ! 

The  absence  of  the  ark  however  from  the  tabernacle,  did 
not  suspend  the  regular  worship  of  the  Church  in  Shiloh,  nor 
in  the  different  cities  to  which  the  tabernacle  was  subsequently 
carried.  The  worship  clave  to  the  tabernacle  until  it  was 
superseded  by  the  temple  ;  for  it  was  at  the  tabernacle  tliat 
the  high-priest  and  ofiiciating  priests  resided,  and  ministered 
in  the  Holy  of  Holies,  in  the  holy  places  and  in  the  courts  at 
the  altars.  Hither  repaired  the  people  for  instruction  and 
sacrificial  worship,  and  for  the  celebration  of  the  solemn  feasts. 


THE   TABERNACLE   AT   SHILOH.  409 

It  was  at  the  tabernacle  that  the  higli-priest  inquired  of  the 
Lord  for  the  people. 

After  the  removal  of  the  ark,  the  tabernacle  continued  at 
Shiloh  until  the  reign  of  Saul,  when  it  was  found  pitched  at 
Nob,  a  city  of  i^riests.  Here  Abinielech  ministered,  and  gave 
David  of  the  "  shew-bread,"  which  always  stood  on  the  table  in 
the  holy  place.  There  also  was  the  sword  of  Goliath,  "  wrapped 
in  a  cloth  behind  tlie  ephod,"  1  Saral.  xxi.  1-9 ;  xxii.  9-15. 
Saul  cruelly  massacred  the  men,  women,  and  children  of  Nob, 
not  sparing  oxen,  asses,  and  sheep  !  In  the  reign  of  David,  the 
tabernacle  is  found  in  Gibeon,  the  ancient  city  of  the  Gibeon- 
ites,  and  a  Levitical  city,  lying  in  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  three 
or  four  miles  from  Kirjath-jearim,  and  some  iive  miles  northwest 
of  Jerusalem,  Josh.  ix.  17  ;  x.  2  ;  xviii.  25  ;  xxi.  17  ;  for,  on  the 
same  occasion  that  David  appointed  a  service  and  priests 
before  the  ark,  he  also  appointed  "  Zadok  and  his  brethren  the 
priests,  before  the  tabernacle  of  the  Lord  in  the  high  place 
that  was  at  Gibeon,  to  offer  burnt-offerings  unto  the  Lord  upon 
the  altar  of  the  burnt-offering  continually,  morning  and  even- 
ing, and  to  do  according  to  all  that  is  written  in  the  law  of  the 
Lord  which  He  commanded  Israel."  This  was  the  identical 
tabernacle  made  by  Moses  in  the  wilderness,  but  it  had  been  no 
doubt  frequently  repaired,  1  Chron.  xvi.  39-43  ;  2  Chron.  i.  1-14. 
When  David  saw  the  angel  of  judgment  with  a  drawn  sword 
in  his  hand,  standing  over  Jerusalem,  he  humbled  himself,  and 
received  mercy,  and  offered  sacrifices  in  the  threshing-floor  of 
Oman  the  Jebusite.  And  why  there  ?  Because,  "  the  taber- 
nacle of  the  Lord  which  Moses  made  in  the  wilderness,  and 
the  altar  of  the  burnt-offering,  were  at  that  season  in  the  high 
place  at  Gibeon.  But  David  could  not  go  before  it  to  inquire 
of  God  :  for  he  was  afraid,  because  of  the  sword  of  the  angel 
of  the  Lord,"  1  Chron.  xxi.  26-30.  To  the  tabernacle  in  Gibeon 
Solomon  repaired,  and  inquired  before  the  Lord  ;  and  there 
the  Lord  appeared  to  him,  1  Ivings  iii.  1-15  ;  2  Chron.  i.  1-13. 
At  what  particular  time,  and  by  whose  order  the  tabernacle 
was  removed  from  Shiloh  to  Nob,  and  from  Nob  to  Gibeon,  is 
not  recorded.  Upon  the  completion  of  Solomon's  temple,  the 
ark  was  removed  from  its  tent  in  Jerusalem  into  the  temple — 


410  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE  CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

"  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation  "  (in  Gibeon) — "  and  all 
the  holy  vessels  that  were  in  the  tabernacle,  even  those  did  the 
priests  and  Levites  bring  up,"  1  Kings  viii.  1-4.  The  whole 
were  reverently  disposed  of  in  the  temple,  and  it  became  the 
house,  and  Jerusalem  the  place,  for  the  worship  of  God  by 
sacrifice,  until  the  Saviour  came.  The  ark  abode  in  the  taber- 
nacle of  Moses  in  Shiloh,  from  B.  C.  1444  to  1116,  that  is,  328 
years.  During  this  long  period  Shiloh  was  the  dwelling-j>lace 
of  God  in  Israel,  and  how  long  after  is  not  known  ;  but  from 
the  time  the  ark  was  taken  away,  the  Lord  began,  for  the  sins 
of  the  people,  to  bring  desolation  upon  Shiloh.  From  the 
setting  up  of  the  tabernacle  at  Sinai,  B.  C.  1490,  it  continued 
the  place  of  worship  for  the  Church  until  B.  C,  1003,  when  it 
was  finally  taken  down  to  give  way  to  the  temple — a  period 
of  487  years. 

After  the  rearing  of  the  tabernacle  in  Shiloh,  a  delay  of 
some  six  years  occurred  in  dividing  the  land  among  the  remain- 
ing seven  tribes,  and  Joshua  aroused  the  Israelites  to  the  neg- 
lected duty.  "  How  long  are  ye  slack  to  go  to  possess  the  land 
which  the  Lord  God  of  your  fathers  hath  given  you  ?  "  Three 
men  were  appointed  "  to  go  through  the  land  and  describe  it  ac- 
cording to  the  inheritance  of  them."  "  And  the  men  went  and 
passed  through  the  land  and  described  it  by  cities,  into  seven 
parts  in  a  book,  and  came  again  to  Joshua  to  the  host  at 
Shiloh.  And  Joshua  cast  lots  for  them  in  Shiloh  before  the 
Lord :  and  there  Joshua  divided  the  land  unto  the  children  of 
Israel  according  to  their  divisions  " — to  Benjamin,  Simeon. 
Zebulon,  Issachar,  Asher,  ISfaphtali,  and  Dan,  Gen.  xlix. ; 
Deut.  xxxiii. 

As  a  final  disposition  of  the  possession  of  the  land,  Joshua, 
according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord,  received  the  inheritance  he 
asked,  the  city  of  Timnath-serah  in  mount  Ephraim,  and  he 
built  the  city  and  dwelt  there.  The  cities  of  refuge, — three  on 
the  east  and  three  on  the  west  of  Jordan, — were  appointed,  and 
forty-two  more  out  of  the  twelve  tribes,  making  forty-eight  for 
the  priests  and  Levites.  So  they  made  an  end  of  dividing  the 
land,"  Josh,  xviii.-xx.  Considering  the  many  changes  and 
desolations  which  have  passed  over  Palestine,  it  is  impossible 


DIVISION   OF   THE   LAND.  411 

at  this  distance  of  time,  to  mark  out  any  reliable  boundaries 
of  the  lots  of  the  twelve  tribes.  Our  geographies  and  maps 
are  modern  affairs,  and  are  approximations  only. 

So  "  the  Lord  gave  unto  Israel  all  the  land  which  He 
sware  to  give  unto  their  fathers :  and  they  possessed  it  and 
dwelt  therein.  And  the  Lord  gave  them  rest  round  about, 
according  to  all  that  He  sware  unto  their  fathers  :  and  there 
stood  not  a  man  of  all  their  enemies  before  them  :  tlie  Lord 
delivered  all  their  enemies  into  their  hand.  There  failed  not 
ought  of  any  good  thing  which  the  Lord  had  spoken  unto  tlie 
house  of  Israel :  all  came  to  pass,"  Josh,  xx.-sxi. 

The  army  of  the  two  tribes  and  the  half  tribe,  settled  east 
of  Jordan,  (whom  Moses  had  commanded  to  accompany  the 
remaining  tribes  and  continue  witli  them  until  they  also  should 
obtain  their  inheritance,)  Joshua  now  dismissed,  commending 
them  for  their  constancy  and  fidelity,  and  charging  them  to 
cleave  unto  the  Lord  with  all  their  heart.  Blessing  them,  he 
commanded  them  to  return  to  their  families  laden  with  their 
share  of  the  spoil  of  their  enemies.  "  Return  with  much  riches 
unto  your  tents,  and  with  very  much  cattle,  with  silver  and 
with  gold,  and  with  brass  and  with  iron,  and  with  very  much 
raiment ;  divide  the  spoil  of  your  enemies  with  your  brethren," 
i.  e.,  their  own  tribes. 

The  pious  and  patriotic  warriors  erected  a  large  altar,  after 
the  fashion  of  the  altar  of  sacrifice,  before  the  tabernacle,  on 
the  borders  of  Jordan,  where  the  Israelites  had  crossed.  This 
altar  was  for  a  witness  and  lasting  evidence  of  the  union  of  the 
tribes,  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  as  one  people  and  congrega- 
tion of  the  Lord.  The  western  tribes  interpreted  the  act  as 
a  casting  off  of  God,  and  of  their  alliance  with  them,  and 
prepared  for  war,  but  prudently  sent  Phinehas  the  priest,  and 
ten  princes,  to  inquii-e  into  the  matter,  and  when  they  returned 
with  the  happy  explanation,  "  the  thing  pleased  the  children 
of  Israel,  and  they  blessed  God." 

Joshua  was  old  and  well  stricken  in  years,  and  prepared 
for  his  departure.  He  assembled  the  elders,  the  heads,  the 
judges  and  officers  of  the  people,  and  charged  them  to  com- 
plete faithfully  the  work  he  had  in  great  part  successfully  ac- 


412  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF    GOD. 

complislied  ;  to  execute  the  judgment  of  God  upon  the  guilty- 
inhabitants  of  the  land  ;  and  to  form  no  civil,  social,  or  relig- 
ious connections  whatever  with  them,  upon  pain  of  the  dis- 
pleasure of  God,  and  their  own  ruin  and  expulsion  from  the  land. 
In  a  second  assembly  of  the  tribes  at  Shechem,  (which  assembly 
closed  its  meeting  in  Shiloh,  before  "  the  sanctuary  of  the 
Lord,")  Joshua  rehearsed  the  mercies  and  wonders  of  God  to 
His  people,  from  the  call  of  Abraham  to  that  hour,  and  ex- 
horted them  to  put  away  all  strange  gods,  and  renew  their 
covenant  with  their  Jehovah,  closing  with  the  impressive 
words,  "  Choose  you  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve  ;  but,  as  for 
me  and  my  house,  we  will .  serve  the  Lord."  The  people 
responded,  "  We  also  will  serve  the  Lord,  for  He  is  our  God. 
The  Lord  our  God  will  we*  serve,  and  His  voice  will  we 
obey." 

So  Joshua  made  a  covenant  that  day  with  the  people,  and 
set  them  a  statute  and  an  ordinance  in  Shechem,  and  consum- 
mated the  whole  before  the  Lord  in  Shiloh.  "  Joshua  wrote 
these  words  in  the  book  of  the  law  of  God,  and  took  a  great 
stone  and  set  it  up  there  under  an  oak  that  was  by  the  sanc- 
tuary of  the  Lord.  And  Joshua  said  unto  all  the  people,  Be- 
hold this  stone  shall  be  a  witness  unto  us  :  for  it  hath  heard 
all  the  words  of  the  Lord  which  He- spake  unto  us  :  it  shall 
therefore  be  a  witness  unto  you,  lest  ye  deny  your  God.  And 
Joshua  let  the  people  depart  every  man  unto  his  inheritance." 

Such  was  Joshua's  graceful  close  of  a  long  life  of  service  in 
the  Church  of  God.  He  was  one  among  the  most  honored 
and  most  perfect  of  "  the  elders,"  and  "  died  (B.  C.  144:3)  an 
hundred  and  ten  years  old.  He  was  buried  in  Timnath-serah, 
which  is  in  Mount  Ephraim,  on  the  north  side  of  the  hill  of 
Gaash,"  Josh.  vii.  7-8  ;  ix.  14^15. 

"  And  the  bones  of  Joseph  which  the  children  of  Israel 
brought  up  out  of  Egypt,  buried  they  in  Shechem,  in  a  parcel 
of  ground  which  Jacob  bought  of  the  sons  of  Hamor,  the  father 
of  Shechem,  and  which  Jacob  gave  to  his  son  Joseph,"  John 
iv.  5  ;  Gen.  xxxiii.  19  ;  xlviii.  22.  The  like  protracted  and 
reverent  care  had  never  been  taken  before,  nor  has  it  been 
taken  since,  of  the  body  of  any  saint.     Its  removal  and  pres- 


THE   GIBEONITES.  413 

ervation  were  of  laitli :  "  By  faitli  Joseph  when  he  died  made 
mention  of  the  departing  of  the  children  of  Israel,  and  gave 
commandment "  (under  "  an  oath  of  the  children  of  Israel," 
Gen.  1.  25)  "  concerning  his  bones,"  Heb.  xi.  22.  By  faith 
they  took  their  departure,  and  bore  along  his  body  in  all  their 
wanderings,  a  j^resent  witness  of  the  faithfulness  of  God,  and 
an  assurance  of  their  future  possession  of  the  promised  land. 
Though  dead  he  yet  spoke  to  them  out  of  his  coffin. 

About  eighteen  years,  it  is  supposed,  after  the  death  of 
Joshua,  Eleazar  died.  Numb.  xx.  23-29.  He  had  succeeded 
his  father  Aaron  in  the  high-priesthood,  and  was  associated  in 
the  administration  of  affairs  with  his  uncle  Moses  in  the  last 
year  of  his  life,  as  well  as  with  Joshua  until  his  death.  Josh, 
xxiii.-xxiv. 

Joshua  made  an  addition  to  the  service  of  the  sanctuary,  in 
aid  of  the  priests  and  Levites,  by  depriving  the  Gibeonites  of 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  citizenship,  and  condemning  them 
to  all  the  menial  offices  ;  they  were  to  be  "  hewers  of  wood 
and  drawers  of  water  for  the  congTcgation  and  for  the  altar 
of  the  Lord,  in  the  place  which  He  should  choose,"  Josh.  ix. 
1-27  ;  and  their  condition  was  one  of  privilege  as  well  as  of 
usefulness.  The  last  mention  of  them  is  in  the  reign  of  David, 
2  Sam.  xxi.  1.  For  the  cruelty  of  Saul  in  putting  many  of 
them  to  death,  the  Lord  sent  three  years'  famine  on  the  land, 
and  David  surrendered  seven  of  Saul's  sons  to  death  as  an  ex- 
piation of  the  crime.  It  is  probable  that  in  the  later  his- 
tory of  the  Church  they  were  included  under  the  title  of 
Xethinims — persons  given  up  to  the  service  of  the  Lord. 
Joshua  gave  these  strangers  to  the  service  of  the  sanctuary, 
and  David  and  other  princes  followed  his  example  in  giving 
other  strangers  also,  Ezra  viii.  17,  20.  Solomon  made  strangers 
hewers  of  wood  and  bearers  of  burdens,  2  Chron.  ii.  17-18. 
The  Nethinims  are  perhaps  always  mentioned  in  connection 
with  the  priests  and  Levites,  1  Chron.  ix.  2.  A  considerable 
number  returned  after  the  captivity  with  Ezra  and  Nehemiah, 
and  contentedly  resumed  their  station  and  duties,  which 
argues  in  favor  of  their  conversion  to  true  religion,  Ezra  ii. 
36,  40,  43,  58  ;  vii.  7,  24 ;   Neh.  xi.  3,  20-21 ;  x.  28  ;  iii.  26  ; 


4:14  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

vii.  60,  73.       At  wliat  time  this  class  of  servants  ceased  to  be 
employed  about  the  temple,  is  not  known. 

The  piety  of  the  generation  born  in  the  wilderness  contem- 
porary with  Joshua  and  who  outlived  him,  was  far  in  advance 
of  that  which  characterized  those  who  came  out  of  Egypt, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  "  The  people 
served  the  Lord  all  the  days  of  Joshna,  and  all  the  days  of  the 
elders  that  outlived  Joshua,  who  had  seen  all  the  great  works 
of  the  Lord  that  He  did  for  Israel."  It  was  not  until  all  that 
generation  had  been  gathered  unto  their  fathers  that  spiritual 
declension  appeared,  Josh.  xxiv.  31 ;  Judges  ii.  6-10.  They 
manifested  their  piety  in  obedience  to  Joshua ;  in  a  renewed 
consecration  of  themselves  in  circumcision  at  Gilgal ;  in  their 
courage  and  faithfulness  through  the  dreadful  war  of  judgment 
upon  the  Canaanites  ;  in  their  united  and  hearty  renewal  of 
their  covenant  with  the  Lord,  first  at  Ebal,  and  last  at  She- 
chem,  and  Shiloh  ;  in  the  fidelity  of  the  army  from  the  tribes 
east  of  Jordan  ;  in  the  peace  and  harmony  which  prevailed 
among  all  classes  of  the  people  ;  in  their  solemn  establishment 
of  the  tabernacle  and  worship  of  God  in  Shiloh  ;  in  their 
zeal  in  the  matter  of  the  altar  erected  by  the  retiring  army  of 
their  brethren,  and  in  their  freedom  from  idolatry  and  alliances 
Avith  the  heathen.  The  Lord  therefore  regarded  them  with 
favor,  and  the  Psalmist  terms  them  :  "  the  vineyard  which 
Hiy  right  hand  hath  planted,  and  the  branch  which  Thou 
madest  strong  for  Thyself,"  Ps.  Ixxx.  15.  "  I  planted  thee  a 
noble  vine,  wholly  a  right  seed,"  Jer.  ii.  21.  There  were 
among  them  eminent  saints,  Joshua,  Caleb,  Eleazer,  Rahab, 
and  the  elders,  leaders  and  examples  in  the  Church  ;  yet  we 
find  on  one  occasion  an  Achan  in  the  camp.  With  all  the  good 
there  was  some  admixture  of  evil.  At  no  previous  time  was  the 
state  of  religion  better  in  the  Church  than  the  present ;  and  to 
these  time  Israelites  the  rest  which  Joshua  gave  them,  was  an 
earnest  of  that  rest  which  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God,  to 
which  the  true  Joshua — Jesus  Himself — would  lead  them, 
Heb.  iv.  1-9. 

The  visible  Church  is  now  permanently  settled,  in  fulfil- 
ment of  the  purpose  of  God,  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  until  Christ 


NO    SUCCESSOR   TO   JOSHUA.  415 

should  come.  The  settlement  was  temporarily  interrupted  by 
the  captivity,  but  tlie  Lord  preserved  the  land  free  of  inhabit- 
ants, and  restored  it  to  His  Church  again.  Here  for  long  ages, 
till  Christ  should  come,  the  Church  stood  the  light  of  the 
world,  which  lay  in  the  gross  darkness  of  heathenism  and  idol- 
atry. The  numbers  of  God's  true  worshippers  outside  the 
territories  of  the  Church  were  few,  and  by  this  time  were  per- 
haps nearly  extinct.  The  position  of  the  Church  was  central. 
She  held  communication  with  three  quarters  of  the  globe — 
Africa  on  the  south,  Europe  on  the  west,  and  Asia  on  the  north 
and  east.  Touching  her  boundaries  lay  for  centuries  the  most 
civilized,  powerful,  and  influential  nations  of  each  of  these 
continents,  and  her  renown  went  forth  among  the  heathen  for 
the  comeliness  which  God  had  given  her,  Ezek.  xvi.  1-i  ;  Deut. 
iv.  4-8.  Said  the  Lord,  "  My  house  shall  be  called  a  house  of 
prayer  for  all  nations ; ''  and  again,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord, 
This  is  Jerusalem,  I  have  set  it  in  the  midst  of  the  nations  and 
countries  that  are  round  about  her,"  Ezek.  v.  6  ;  "  all  nations 
shall  flow  into  it,  for  out  of  Zion  shall  go  forth  the  law,  and 
the  word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusalem,"  Isa.  ii.  1-4 ;  Micah 
iv.  1-3. 

When  Joshua  dismissed  the  multitudes  at  Shechem  and 
Shiloh,  "  the  children  of  Israel  went  every  man  to  his  inheri- 
tance to  possess  the  land."  They  had  served  the  Lord  all  the 
days  of  Joshua,  and  continued  to  serve  Him  all  the  days  of  the 
elders  that  outlived  Joshua ;  yet  they  did  not  carry  out  his 
last  commands,  to  complete  the  subjugation  of  the  land,  and 
the  extermination  of  the  heathen  inhabitants  ;  but,  spending 
the  remainder  of  their  days  in  peaceful  rest,  left  that  work  to 
be  accomplished  by  their  children.  Their  children,  however, 
acknowledged  "  not  the  Lord,  nor  yet  the  works  which  He  had 
done  for  Israel."  They  intermarried  and  made  leagues  with 
the  inhabitants  of  tlie  land,  doing  evil,  forgetting  the  Lord 
their  God,  and  serving  Baal  and  Ashtaroth,  Judges  ii.  13  ; 
vi.  7.  For  which  cause  the  anger  of  the  Lord  was  hot  against 
Israel,  and  He  sent  His  angel  with  a  message  of  condemnation, 
saying,  "  Ye  have  not  obeyed  my  voice.  Why  have  ye  done 
this  ?     Wherefore  I  will  not  drive  out  the  inhabitants  of  the 


416  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE    CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

laud  from  before  you,  which  Joshua  left  when  he  died ;  but 
they  shall  be  as  thorns  in  your  sides,  and  their  gods  shall  be  a 
snare  unto  you,  that  through  them  I  may  prove  Israel  whether 
they  will  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord  to  walk  therein,  as  their 
fathers  did  keep  it  or  not,"  Judg.  ii.  1-5,  20-23  ;  iii.  1-7.  This 
message  produced  a  temporary  effect,  but  was  followed  by  no 
true  reformation,  (ii.  4-5,)  for  when  they  finally  undertook  to 
drive  out  the  nations  and  asked  the  Lord  in  what  order  the 
tribes  should  go  up,  He  gave  them  the  order  but  went  not  with 
them,  as  He  had  done  aforetime  with  their  fathers.  They 
were  no  longer  to  be  led,  taught,  and  enabled  to  fight  by  the 
captain  of  the  Lord's  hosts,  but  they  were  to  learn  the  art  of 
war  as  other  nations  did,  and  to  war  as  they  warred,  Judg.  iii. 
1-2.  Tribe  after  tribe  attempted  to  exterminate  the  Canaanites 
from  their  territories,  but  not  one  of  them  succeeded — not  even 
Judah,  although  the  Lord  said,  "  Judah  shall  go  up  "  first ; 
"  behold,  I  have  delivered  the  land  into  his  hand."  The 
tribes  contented  themselves  generally  with  subduing  the 
heathen  and  making  them  tributaries.  They  did  not,  and 
could  not  drive  the  idolatrous  nations  out,  because  they  lacked 
faith,  courage,  and  will ;  and  tlierefore  their  justly-ofiended 
God  would  not  work  with  them.  Dent.  vii.  1-26  ;  viii.  1-20  ; 
ix.  1-7,  etc.  Issachar  is  the  only  tribe  not  mentioned  as  hav- 
ing gone  up  to  conquer  his  lot.  The  supposition  is,  that  he 
went  up,  but  succeeded  no  better  than  the  rest,  Josh.  i.  1-36. 
ISTo  successor  was  appointed  to  rule  "  king  in  Jerusalem  " 
after  Joshua,  Deut,  xxxiii.  5  ;  for  the  circumstances  of  the 
visible  Church  were  materially  altered.  Under  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob,  the  Church,  wandering  from  place  to  place, 
needed  a  head  such  as  they  were.  Joseph  succeeded  Jacob  in 
Egypt,  and  after  his  death  elders  from  the  different  tribes  gov- 
erned the  people  until  the  day  of  their  redemption  by  Moses. 
Settled  in  their  own  land,  they  wander  no  more,  and  the 
divinely  ordained  government  goes  into  operation.  Each  tribe 
has  its  own  elders  and  officers,  and  is  adequate  to  its  own  gov- 
ernment. Tliere  is  the  council  of  seventy — the  senate  of  the 
nation — having  cognizance  and  authority  in  affairs  of  national 
cliaracter   and  importance ;    in    which   the   tribes  are   repre- 


THE   DECLENSION    OF    THE   CHUKCH.  417 

sented,  and  everything  detemiincd  according  to  a  written  con- 
stitution. The  government  is  of  the  nature  of  a  confederacy 
of  tribes,  or  states,  having  this  peculiarity,  that  supreme  and 
absolute  power  was  lodged  in  the  hands  of  God  their  King, 
enthroned  among  them  in  Shiloh,  and  to  whom  access  might 
be  had  at  all  times.  There  being  therefore  no  necessity  for 
the  appointment  of  a  successor  to  Joshua,  none  was  appointed. 
The  government  M-as  not  carried  out  fully,  for  rulers  and 
people  corrupted  themselves  together.  There  was  neither 
virtue  nor  resolution  in  the  people  to  obey  the  laws,  nor  in  the 
rulers  to  have  them  executed  when  broken.  "  In  those  days 
there  Avas  no  king  in  Israel,  but  every  man  did  that  M^hicli 
was  right  in  his  own  eyes,"  Judg.  xvii.  6  ;  xviii.  1 ;  xix.  1  ; 
xxvi.  25.  We  do  not  understand  that  literally  there  was  no 
king  in  Israel,  for  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  was  there  ;  but  that 
there  was  no  chief  ruler,  as  Moses,  or  Joshua,  to  take  notice 
of  offenders  and  punish  them,  and  to  keep  the  elders  and 
judges  to  their  duty. 

That  this  declension  occurred  with  the  generation  succeed- 
ing that  which  Joshua  governed,  is  proved  from  the  Scripture 
itself,  Judg.  ii.  6-12  ;  and  from  the  fact  that  instances  in  evi- 
dence occurred  while  the  tribes  were  warring  for  their  several 
inheritances,  Judg.  xviii.  1,  and  while  Phinehas,  the  successor 
of  Eleazer,  was  high-priest,  Judg.  xx.  18,  27-28.  The  first 
instance  is  the  idolatry  of  Micah  of  Mount  Ephraim,  (xvii. 
1-13,)  in  connection  with  the  violence  and  idolatry  of  a  portion 
of  the  tribe  of  Dan,  who  set  up  the  graven  image  of  Micah  in 
the  city  of  Dan,  and  had  a  succession  of  apostate  priests  serv- 
ing before  it  all  the  time  the  house  of  God  was  in  Shiloh,  until 
the  ark  was  taken  by  the  Philistines,  and  the  whole  land  shared 
in  captivity  with  it,  Judg.  xviii.  1-28.  The  second  instance  is 
the  infamously  brutal  treatment  and  murder  of  the  Levite's 
wife,  by  the  men  of  Gibeali  of  Benjamin,  long  after  referred  to 
by  Hosea,  ix.  9.  Her  poor  body  abused  unto  death,  cut  into 
twelve  pieces,  and  sent  by  her  husband  into  the  coasts,  with 
the  story  of  her  dreadful  end,  aroused  all  Israel  as  one  man, 
though  they  had  departed  far  from  the  Lord.  The  tribe  of 
Benjamin  protected  their  guilty  brethren,  assuming  the  respon- 
27 


418  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF    GOD. 

sibilitj  of  their  crime,  and  were  exterminated,  save  six  liundred, 
by  tlie  other  tribes,  but  at  a  fearful  loss  to  them  of  over  forty 
thousand  men  !  Judg.  xx.  21,  25,  31.  The  sword  of  judgment 
was  so  turned  by  the  hand  of  the  Lord  as  to  reach  and  humble 
all  Israel.  The  dark  chapter  is  closed  by  the  destruction  of 
Jabesh-gilead  for  not  nnitiug  with  the  tribes  in  the  war  ;  by 
peace  with  the  six  hundred  Benjamites  ;  by  the  gift  to  them 
of  four  hundred  young  women  for  wives  ;  and  by  the  seizure 
of  two  hundred  more  at  one  of  the  feasts  in  Shiloh  for  the  re- 
maining two  hundred  men,  Judg.  xix.-xxii. 

Tliere  being  no  repentance  and  return  to  the  Lord  after 
these  events,  as  He  had  promised  witli  an  oath  many  years 
before,  so  now  He  proceeded  to  inflict  heavy  judgments  upon 
Israel,  and  few  indeed  can  be  heavier  than  that  of  "  the  rod  of 
the  wicked  resting  upon  the  lot  of  the  righteous,"  Ps,  cxxv.  3. 
Xow  fell  the  first  strokes  of  the  sword  of  cruel  war,  and  of  the 
captivities  of  the  tribes  to  the  heathen.  "  The  Lord  delivered 
them  into  the  hands  of  the  spoilers  that  spoiled  them,  and  He 
sold  them  into  the  hands  of  their  enemies  round  about,  so  that 
they  could  not  any  longer  stand  before  their  enemies,"  Judg. 
ii.  13-15.  "  Whithersoever  they  went  out,  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  was  against  them  for  evil,  and  they  were  greatly  dis- 
tressed," Levit.  xxviii.  15,  etc.  ;  Dent.  iv.  25-28  ;  xxviii.  15, 
etc.  ;  Josh,  xxiii.  15-16  ;  Judg.  ii.  13-15. 

In  mercy  the  captivities  were  but  partial,  embracing  some- 
times the  tribes,  or  a  part  of  them,  on  the  east,  and  sometimes 
a  part  of  the  tribes  on  the  west  of  Jordan.  Limited  in  extent, 
the  captivities  were  also  limited  in  duration,  and  the  people 
had  long  intervals  of  freedom  and  peace.  We  do  not  read  of 
either  the  length  of  the  captivities,  or  of  the  periods  of  rest ; 
but,  judging  by  the  record  of  each,  the  intervals  of  rest  in  the 
aggregate  were  double  or  treble  the  aggregate  of  the  periods 
of  captivity.  Three  rests  of  forty  years  each,  and  one  of  eighty 
are  on  record.  When  any  tribe  or  tribes  were  invaded,  the 
other  tribes  did  not  generally  make  common  cause  with  their 
sufferino;  brethren,  but  allowed  them  to  be  subdued.  On  some 
occasions,  even  after  the  deliverer  arose,  and  called  for  assist- 
ance, there  were  tribes  that  did  not  respond — facts  which  dem- 


THE   JUDGES    OF   ISRAEL.  419 

onstrated  the  low  state  Loth  of  piety  and  patriotism,  Judg.  v. 
14-18,  23  ;  Yiii  1-3  ;  xii.  1-6. 

When  the  design  of  these  afflictions  was  secured  and  the 
people  cried  for  pardon,  the  Lord  raised  up  deliverers,  who  are 
styled  "  Judges,"  not  so  much  of  law,  as  supreme  civil  and 
military  rulers,  vicegerents  of  the  great  King,  who  during  their 
government  were  of  authority  throughout  all  Israel.  On  one 
occasion  the  men  of  Israel  wished  to  make  the  office  heredit- 
ary, namely,  in  the  family  of  Gideon,  but  the  noble  reply  of 
that  pious  and  patriotic  prince,  was,  "  I  will  not  rule  over 
you,  neither  shall  my  son  rule  over  you.  The  Lord  shall  rule 
over  you,"  Judg.  viii.  22-23.  "  And  when  the  Lord  raised  them 
up  judges,  then  the  Lord  was  with  the  judge,  and  delivered 
them  out  of  the  hand  of  their  enemies  all  the  days  of  the 
judge,"  Judg.  ii.  1-23.  The  judges  were  an  extraordinary 
order  of  rulers,  raised  up  in  emergencies,  and  not  contemplated 
or  provided  for  in  the  constitution  of  the  state. 

They  did  not  always  immediately  succeed  each  other. 
There  were  fifteen  in  all,  (including  Abimelech  the  usurper,) 
from  Othniel,  Caleb's  brother,  to  Samuel,  who  was  both  judge 
and  prophet :  viz.  Othniel,  (Judg.  iii.  1-11,)  Ehud,  (iji.  12-20,) 
Shamgar,  (iii.  31,)  Deborah,  (iv.-v.,)  Gideon,  (vi.-viii.,)  Abi- 
melech, (ix.  1-57,)  Tola,  (x.  1-2,)  Jair,  (x.  3-5,)  Jephthah, 
(x.  6-8  ;  xi.  1-40  ;  xii.  1-7,)  Ibzan,  (xii.  S-10,)  Elon,  (xii.  11- 
12,)  Abdon,  (xii.  13-15,)  Samson,  (chaps,  xiii.  to  xvi.,)  Eli, 
(1  Sam.  iv.  18,)  and  Samuel  (1  Sam.  vii.  1-17 ;  viii.  1-7). 

That  was  the  order ;  and,  since  the  people  were  afflicted 
when  they  declined  in  piety,  and  when  they  cried  the  judge 
delivered  them,  it  is  supposed  that  the  number  of  caj)tivities 
was  equal  to  the  number  of  judges,  if  we  except  Abimelech, 
the  usurper,  who  endeavored  to  make  the  judgeship  in  his 
tribe  hereditary,  and,  after  a  brief  reign  of  three  years,  came 
to  an  untimely  end,  having  been  a  scourge  to  the  people. 

Called  and  qualified  by  the  great  King  to  their  office,  (with 
the  exception  of  Abimelech,)  the  judges  were  men  of  excellent 
character,  although  in  some  cases  not  free  from  serious  blem- 
ishes. Gideon  made  an  ephod  in  commemoration  of  his  great 
victory,  which  afterwards  proved  a  snare  of  idolatry  to  Israel 


420  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF    GOD. 

and  to  his  own  liouse  (Jiidg.  viii.  24-27).  Jephthali,  whose 
administration  is  fixed  jnst  three  hundred  years  after  Moses, 
(xi.  26,)  offered  up  his  own  daughter  in  sacrifice  to  God, 
through  a  mistaken  impression  that  his  rash  vow  was  binding ; 
and  the  noble  daughter  acquiesced  in  his  decision  (xi.  30-40). 
He  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  resolution  and  j)romptitude, 
and  slew  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  for  an  insurrection  against 
his  authority,  forty-two  thousand  men,  Judg.  xii.  1-6.  The 
last  census  gave  Ephraim,  (Numb,  xxvi.  37,)  but  thirty-two 
thousand  five  hundred  men,  and  the  number  in  the  text  is  con- 
sidered too  large.  Ephraim,  however,  may  have  had  others 
confederated  with.  him. 

Though  there  are  exceptional  passages  in  the  life  of  Sam- 
son, he  is  associated  with  Gideon,  Barak,  Jephthah,  and  Sam- 
uel, as  among  the  distinguished  worthies  of  the  Church,  Heb. 
xi.  32. 

The  last  two  judges  were  of  the  tribe  of  Levi :  Eli,  who 
judged  Israel  forty  years,  1  Sam.  iv.  18,  and  Samuel,  who 
judged  Israel  all  the  days  of  his  life,  1  Sam.  vii.  1-17 ;  xii.  10 
-11,  the  last  of  the  judges  and  the  first  of  the  long  line  of 
prophets  which  ended  in  Malachi.  Repudiating  his  wicked 
sons  as  his  associates  and  successors  in  his  old  age,  the  people 
demanded  of  him  a  king,  and  the  Lord  directed  him  to  grant 
their  request.  At  the  second  coronation  of  Saul,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  all  Israel,  he  reviewed  his  own  government,  and  called 
upon  them  to  witness  against  him  if  he  had  been  guilty  of 
any  maladministration  whatever,  fie  recounted  the  divine 
mercies  manifested  to  them,  and  their  ingratitude  in  rejecting 
the  Lord  as  their  King,  and  exhorted  them  to  cleave  to 
the  Lord,  and  obey  the  king  whom  He  had  set  over  them. 
Finally  he  yielded  up  his  ofl&ce  in  favor  of  the  king,  although 
he  continued  to  judge  Israel  to  tlie  day  of  his  death. 

It  was  during  "the  days  when  the  judges  ruled,"  and 
"  there  was  a  lamine  in  the  land,"  that  Elimelech  and  his  wife 
Kaomi,  and  his  two  sons,  Mahlon  and  Chilion  went  into  the 
country  of  Moab  to  continue  there  until  the  Lord  should  again 
"  visit  His  people  in  giving  them  bread."  Kor  is  it  possible 
to  determine  either  the  judge's  reign  in  which  the  departure 


THE   BOOK    OF    KUTH.  421 

of  this  interesting  family  took  place,  or  that  in  which  the 
widowed  mother  and  daughter-in-law  returned.  They  dwelt 
in  Moab  about  ten  years.  The  hook  of  Euth — so  beautiful  in 
its  composition,  and  indispensable  to  the  canon  of  Scripture, 
and  the  history  of  the  Church — is  occupied  with  this  family. 
The  narrative  is  a  beam  of  sunlight  falling  upon  the  land  of 
Israel,  bringing  into  view  its  hills  and  plains,  its  villages  and 
fields  waving  with  rich  harvests,  and  the  teeming  population 
of  rich  and  poor  going  in  and  coming  out,  all  busied  with  the 
labors  of  life.  We  behold  their  manners  and  customs,  their 
recognition  of  God  and  regard  for  His  laws  ;  and  over  all,  the 
God  of  Israel  dispensing  prosperity  and  affliction,  producing 
affecting  and  wondrous  changes  in  the  condition  of  families 
and  individuals,  according  to  the  counsel  of  His  own  will,  car- 
rying forward  the  affairs  of  His  Church,  and  giving  develop- 
ment and  shape  to  the  promises  of  the  coming  Messiah. 

Why  this  book  should  find  a  place  in  the  Word  of  God — 
why  the  family  of  Elimelech  should  be  so  remembered  and 
honored — is  not  understood  until  we  reach  the  closing  periods  : 
"  So  Boaz  took  Ruth  and  she  was  his  wife,  and  the  Lord  gave 
her  conception,  and  she  bare  a  son.  And  the  women  said  unto 
Naomi,  Blessed  be  the  Lord  which  hath  not  left  thee  this  day 
without  a  kinsman,  that  his  name  may  be  famous  in  Israel. 
And  he  shall  be  unto  thee  a  restorer  of  thy  life  and  a  nourisher 
of  thine  old  age  :  for  thy  daughter-in-law,  which  loveth  thee, 
which  is  better  to  thee  than  seven  sons,  hath  borne  him.  And 
Naomi  took  the  child,  and  laid  it  in  her  bosom,  and  became 
nurse  unto  it.  And  the  women  her  neighbors  gave  it  a  name, 
saying.  There  is  a  son  born  to  Naomi :  and  they  called  his 
name  Obed :  he  is  the  lather  of  Jesse,  the  father  of  David. 
Now  these  are  the  generations  of  Pharez :  Pharez  begat 
Hezron,  and  Hezron  begat  Ram,  and  Ram  begat  Ammiuadab, 
and  Amminadab  begat  Nashon,  and  Nashon  begat  Salmon, 
and  Salmon  begat  Boaz,  and  Boaz  begat  Obed,  and  01)ed  be- 
gat Jesse,  and  Jesse  begat  David,"  Ruth  iv.  13-22.  The  book 
is  a  continuation  of  the  history  of  the  family  of  our  Lord,  and 
shows  the  progress  of  His  coming  in  the  long-before-appointed 
tribe  of  Judah.     Here  is  the  link  in  His  genealogy  which  con- 


422         THE  niSTOKY  OF  THE  CHUECH  OF  GOD. 

nects  Him  with  that  tribe.  The  genealogy  looks  forward  also. 
Many  years  before  it  is  directly  revealed  that  He  should  be  of 
the  house  of  David ;  here  is  David  enrolled  His  progenitor ! 
Matt.  i.  1-6  ;  Lnhe  iii.  31-33.  "  All  Scripture  is  given  by 
inspiration  of  God."  He  only  who  is  the  author  of  the  cove- 
nant of  grace,  and  who  sees  the  end  from  the  beginning, 
could  be  the  author  of  this  Scripture. 

There  is  a  brief  and  comprehensive  account  of  the  state  of 
religion  during  the  period  of  the  judges  in  the  second  chapter 
of  Kuth,  and  the  sum  of  it  all  is,  that  the  wheel  of  mercy  was 
kept  continually  turning  in  the  Church.  There  were  declen- 
sions followed  by  chastisement ;  chastisement,  by  repentance  ; 
repentance,  by  forgiveness  ;  and  forgiveness  by  revivals,  over 
and  over  again.  The  declensions,  however,  like  the  captivities, 
were  not  general,  but  partial,  and  there  were  long  intervals 
when  the  people  served  the  Lord. 

Among  the  eminent  saints  in  public  life  may  be  mentioned 
all  the  judges,  save  Abimelech,  of  whom  the  most  conspicuous 
were  Deborah,  Gideon,  Barak,  Samson,  Jephthah,  and  Sam- 
uel— the  last  is  ranked  with  Moses,  Jer.  xv.  1 — in  private  life, 
Manoah  and  his  wife,  ISTaomi,  Ruth,  Boaz,  Elkanah,  and  Han- 
nah. The  Angel  of  the  covenant,  as  the  Preserver  and  Re- 
deemer of  Israel,  appeared  to  Gideon,  (vi.  11,)  and  to  Manoah 
and  his  wife,  (xiii.  1-21,)  as  He  had  often  done  before  to  pat- 
riarchs, to  Moses,  and  Joshua. 

While  the  j  udges  govern,  a  change  occurs  in  the  succession  of 
the  high-priesthood.  It  has  been  regular  from  Aaron,  through 
the  line  of  his  elder  son  Eleazer,  (after  the  death  of  ISTadab  and 
Abihu,)  down  to  Uzzi,  as  follows  :  Aaron,  Eleazer,  Phinehas, 
Abiezer,  or  Abishua,  Bukki,  and  TJzzi.  After  Uzzi  it  is 
broken,  and  the  high-priesthood  is  transferred  from  the  house 
of  Eleazer,  Aaron's  elder  son,  to  the  house  of  Ithamar,  his 
younger  son — for  what  reason  we  are  left  to  conjecture.  Eli, 
of  the  house  of  Ithamar,  succeeds  Uzzi.  His  sons,  who  min- 
istered in  the  priest's  office  under  him  in  Shiloh,  "  were  sons 
of  Belial" — infamously  and  grossly  immoral  men.  "They 
knew  not  the  Lord."  They  were  sacrilegious,  profane,  and 
impious.     "  The  sin  of  the  young  men  was  very  great  before 


SUCCESSION    OF  THE   HIGH-PEIESTHOOD.  423 

the  Lord."  "  Eli  heard  all  that  his  sons  did  unto  all  Israel." 
He  contented  himself  with  reproofs,  but  restrained  them  not, 
leaving  them  to  practise  their  iniquity  in  the  courts  of  the 
Lord.  Therefore  the  Lord  sent  a  message  to  him  by  "  a  man 
of  God," — which  was  also  repeated  to  him  by  Samuel,  1  Sam. 
i.,  iii,, — namely,  that  he  should  see  great  calamities  in  the  liabi- 
tation  of  God  ;  that  "  there  should  not  be  an  old  man  in 
his  house  forever  ;  "  that  the  power  of  his  posterity  should  be 
broken  ;  the  living  should  be  a  source  of  grief,  and  die  in  the 
flower  of  their  age,  being  cut  ofi'  from  the  altar,  and  the  suc- 
cession of  the  high-priesthood  transferred  again  to  the  house  of 
Eleazer  ;  and  that  those  who  remained  of  his  stock  should  be 
miserable  and  servilely  dependent.  These  calamities  were 
ushered  in  by  the  captivity  of  the  ark  ;  the  death,  on  account 
of  their  sins,  of  his  two  sons  "  in  one  day,"  Hophni  and  Phine- 
has,  by  the  sword  of  the  Philistines  ;  and  the  sudden  death  of 
the  blind  old  man,  ninety  and  eight  years  of  age  :  for  when  he 
heard  the  tidings,  "  he  fell  from  off  the  seat  backwards  by  the 
side  of  the  gate  :  and  his  neck  brake  and  he  died  !  "  This 
series  of  sorrows  was  closed  for  the  time  by  the  affecting  death 
of  his  daughter-in-law,  Phinehas'  wife.  "  This  is  the  thing 
which  God  promised  to  do  in  Israel,  at  which  both  the  ears  of 
every  one  that  heareth  it  shall  tingle." 

The  succession,  however,  in  the  house  of  Ithamar  did  not 
terminate  until  the  reign  of  Solomon,  some  eighty  years  after, 
when  he  deposed  Abiathar  for  supporting  Adonijah's  rebel- 
lion, and  appointed  Zadok  of  the  house  of  Eleazer  in  his  stead. 
1  Ivi.  ii.  26-27,  35  ;  com]).  I^umb.  xxv.  1-13.  The  reason  foi 
taking  away  the  high-priesthood  from  Ithamar  is  given : 
"  AVherefore  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  saith,  I  said  indeed  "  (that 
is,  to  Eli,)  "  that  thy  house  and  the  house  of  thy  father  should 
walk  before  me  forever :  but  now  the  Lord  saith,  Be  it  far 
from  me,"  (the  condition  of  faithfulness  on  the  part  of  Eli's 
house  not  being  fulfilled,)  "  for  them  that  honor  me  I  will  hon- 
or :  and  they  that  despise  me,  shall  be  lightly  esteemed,"  1 
Sam.  ii.  30.  We  may  conjecture  that,  for  the  same  reason, 
the  transfer  of  the  high-priesthood  was  made  in  the  first  in- 
stance from  Eleazer  to  Ithamar.     The  sacred  writer,  in  record- 


424  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF    GOD. 

ing  the  succession  of  liigli-priests  in  1  Cln-on.  vi.  1-15,  50-54, 
takes  no  notice  of  tlie  break  occasioned  by  the  temporary- 
transfer  of  the  office  to  the  house  of  Ithaniar,  but  pursues  the 
line  of  Eleazer  tliroughont. 

Defeated  in  battle  by  the  Philistines,  the  elders  in  the  camp 
of  Israel,  without  consultation  with  Eli,  or  inquiry  of  the  Lord, 
sent  to  Shiloli  and  fetched  from  the  tabernacle,  by  the  hands 
of  Hophni  and  Phinehas,  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord, 
saying,  "  When  it  cometh  among  us  it  may  save  us  out  of  the 
hand  of  our  enemies."  The  God  of  Israel  dwelt  in  the  taber- 
nacle in  visible  glory,  between  the  cherubims  over  the  mercy- 
seat  that  covered  the  ark  which  had  led  Israel  many  years, 
and  delivered  them  in  sore  distresses  and  in  obstinate  battles. 
The  backslidden  people,  from  whom  God  had  withdrawn,  con- 
fided in  the  mere  symbol  of  His  presence,  and  were  defeated, 
and  the  ark  wa,s  taken.  After  seven  months'  captivity,  the 
Philistines,  compelled  by  the  judgments  of  God,  restored  it  to 
Israel ;  and  it  was  miracuously  brought  by  the  milch-kine  to 
Bethshemesh,  a  city  of  the  priests,  situated  in  Judah,  Josh.  xv. 
10 ;  xxi.  16,  about  sixteen  miles  southwest  of  Jerusalem,  1 
Sam.  vi.  1-21  ;  1  Chron.  vi.  59.  On  its  arrival,  the  men  of 
Bethshemesh,  moved  with  vain  curiosity,  and  neglectful  of  the 
commands  of  God  that  none  but  the  .appointed  priests  should 
look  upon  and  handle  the  ark,  looked  into  it;  Numb.  iv.  15, 
20 ;  1  Chron.  xiii.  9-10 ;  and  the  Lord  smote  of  the  people 
50,070  men !  an  unusually  large  number  for  an  ordinary 
priestly  city,  but  the  Hebrew  text  may  admit  of  emendation, 
since  the  precise  reading  is  unusual,  "  threescore  and  ten  men, 
fifty  thousand,"  which,  in  the  Syriac  and  Arabic  versions 
reads  5,070  men,  and  in  Josephus  only  70.  The  same  num- 
ber was  foimd  in  two  ancient  manuscripts  collated  by  Dr. 
Kenmett. 

The  Bethshemites,  filled  with  dread,  sent  to  the  neighbor- 
ing town  of  Kirjath-jearim,  nine  miles  northeast,  and  requested 
the  priests  "  to  come  down  and  fetch  it  (the  ark)  to  them," 
The  ark  remained  twenty  years  in  Kirjath-jearim,  "  in  the 
house  of  Abinadab  on  the  hill ;  at  the  end  of  which  time  the 
people  again  returned  with  repentance  to  the  Lord,  and  were 


REMOVAL   OF   THE   AEK.  425 

delivered  by  Samuel  from  the  power  of  the  Philistines,  1  Sam. 
vii.  1-lY ;  but  neither  did  Samuel  nor  the  people  remove  the 
ark  from  its  resting-place.  Saul  brought  it  into  his  camp  at 
Gibeah,  1  Sam.  xiv.  18,  by  which  it  would  seem  that  some- 
times, at  least,  he  carried  it  with  him  in  his  wars.  It  is  also 
strongly  intimated  that  it  was  with  the  army  of  David  in  his 
war  with  Ammon,  2  Sam.  xi.  11 ;  but  whenever  removed  on 
such  occasions,  it  was  always  returned  to  Kirjath-jcarim  ;  it 
never  went  back  to  Shiloh.  In  the  earlier  part  of  his  reign, 
after  the  ark  had  been  from  seventy  to  seventy-five  years  in 
Kirjath-jearim,  David  attempted  to  remove  it  to  Jerusalem, 
the  capital  of  his  kingdom,  where  he  had  carefully  prepared  a 
tabernacle  for  it.  Uzzah  being  slain  for  irreverence  in  the 
progress,  David  paused,  turned  aside,  and  placed  the  ark  in 
the  house  of  Obed-edom,  where  it  remained  three  months ;  2 
Sam.  vi.  1-17  ;  1  Chron.  xiii.  1-14  ;  after  which,  with  greater 
reverence  and  solemnity,  he  removed  it  to  Jerusalem ;  and  then, 
saith  tlie  Scripture,  "  tlie  ark  had  rest,"  1  Chron.  xv.  1-29  ;  vi. 
31 ;  xvi.  1.  When  David  fled  from  Absalom,  the  priests  took 
up  the  ark  to  carry  it  with  him,  but  he  ordered  them  to  return 
with  it  into  the  city,  2  Sam.  xv.  24-26.  Here  it  remained  in 
the  tabernacle  over  forty  years,  when  Solomon  placed  it  in  the 
Holy  of  Holies  of  the  temple  which  he  had  built.  There  was 
now  nothing  in  it  but  the  two  tables  of  stone,  1  Ki.  viii.  1-9  ; 
2  Chron.  vi.  41.  It  was  temporarily  taken  out  of  the  temple 
by  the  priests,  to  prevent,  no  doubt,  its  profanation  in  the 
degenerate  and  closing  period  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah.  Josiah 
directed  them  to  put  it  back  into  the  temple,  2  Chron.  xxxv. 
1-3,  and  it  continued  there  from  the  dedication  of  the  temple, 
B.  C.  1003,  to  its  destruction,  B.  C.  588,  that  is,  for  four  hundred 
and  fifteen  years.  Moses  made  the  ark  B.  C.  1490,  and  it  per- 
ished in  Solomon's  temple  B.  C.  588,  having  been  in  existence 
nine  hundred  and  two  years  !  Is  not  this  a  miraculous  pres- 
ervation?    The  second  temple  had  no  ark. 

"  Eleazar  the  son  of  Aminadab  vras  sanctified  to  keep  the 
ark,"  1  Sam.  vii.  1,  in  Kirjath-jeariu),  but  whether  any  re- 
ligious services  were  performed  before  it,  is  not  known.  David 
appointed  a  regular  ministration  by  certain  of  the  Levites  be- 


426  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH    OF    GOD. 

fore  it,  in  liis  tabernacle  in  Jerusalem,  "  to  record,  to  tliank 
and  praise  the  Lord  God  of  Israel."  He  left  there,  before  the 
ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord,  Asaph  and  his  brethren  "  to 
minister  before  the  ark  continually  as  every  day's  work  re- 
quired," 1  Chron.  xvi.  1-6,  37-38.  When  Solomon  had  offered 
sacrifices  at  Gibeon,  where  the  Lord  appeared  to  him,  he  re- 
turned "  to  Jerusalem  and  stood  before  the  ark  of  the  covenant 
of  the  Lord,  and  offered  up  bui-nt-offerings  and  offered  peace- 
offerings,  and  made  a  feast  to  all  his  servants,"  1  Ki.  iii,  1-15. 
But  the  worship  of  the  Church  was  at  the  tabernacle  that 
Moses  pitched. 

This  brief  chapter  advances  us  from  the  crossing  of  Jordan 
to  the  establishment  of  kingl}^  power,  according  to  the  Apostle 
Paul,  a  period  of  above  four  hundred  and  fifty  years  ;  and  the 
sacred  history  of  these  eventful  centuries  is  comprised  in  three 
short  books,  Joshua,  Judges,  Kuth,  and  a  few  pages  in  the  first 
book  of  Samuel, — all  which  may  be  carefully  read  in  three  or 
four  hours  !  And  why  is  it  made  so  short  ?  The  Holy  Sjnrit 
who  inspired  the  record  could  have  indefinitely  enlarged  it, 
and  given  information  on  a  variety  of  interesting  topics,  bring- 
ing minutely  into  view  the  civil  history  of  Israel,  and  indeed 
of  the  contemporary  kingdoms  of  the  world.  But  such  is  not 
the  wisdom  of  God.  The  history  is  a,  history  of  results,  not  of 
detail.  It  is  a  condensed  spiritual  history  ;  and  only  so  much 
is  introduced  as  is  necessary  to  give  the  progress  of  the  Church. 
The  same  remark  holds  true  of  all  the  remaining  historical 
books  of  Scripture. 


PEOPHETICAL   AND  KmOLT  OFFICES.  427 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  PROPHETICAL  AND  KINGLY  OFFICES  IN  ISRAEL. — 
THREE  LINES  OF  PROPHETS  IN  THE  CHURCH,  FROM  ENOCH  TO  MOSES, 
FROM  SAMUEL  TO  MALACHI,  FROM  THE  ADVENT  OF  CHRIST  TO  JOHN. — 
SAUL  THE  FIRST  KING. — NO  CHANGE  OF  THE  THEOCRACY. — ROYAL 
FOTVER. — ^DAVID  THE  SECOND  KING. — EXTENSION  OP  HIS  KINGDOM  TO 
THE  PROMISED  LIMITS. — SOLOMON  THE  THIRD  KING. — SUCCESSION  HE- 
REDITARY.— BUILDING  OF  THE  TEMPLE. — CESSATION  OP  MIRACLES  IN 
THE  CHURCH  IN  THESE  REIGNS  ALMOST  ENTIRE. — INCREASE  OF  PRO- 
PHECY AND  REVELATION  OP  CHRIST. — DAVID  THE  GREAT  PROPHET  OP 
THE  TIMES,  AND  TYPE  OF  CHRIST. — SPIRITUAL  STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH 
FROM  SAMUEL  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  SOLOMON. — PROGRESS  OF  OLD  TESTA- 
MENT CANON. 

Two  important  events  occur  in  the  Churcli  at  the  close  of 
the  period  of  the  Judges  :  the  first,  the  establishment  of  the 
prophetical ;  and  the  second,  the  establishment  of  the  kingly 
office. 

The  spirit  of  prophecy  had  been  bestowed  upon  various 
individuals  in  the  Church  from  the  very  earliest  times,  and  so 
closely  do  they  follow  each  other,  that  a  line  of  succession  may 
be  traced  from  Enoch  to  Moses  ;  for  it  has  been  the  will  of 
God  that  the  religion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  should  ncA'er 
lack  the  evidence  of  prophecy  to  its  truth,  nor  His  people  the 
comfort  of  the  promises  of  the  coming  Redeemer,  and  the 
assm'ance  that  He  reigns  and  controls  all  things,  for  the  benefit 
of  His  kingdom  and  its  ultimate  triumph. 

Enoch,  the  seventh  from  Adam,  prophesied  of  the  coming 
of  Christ,  and  of  the  judgment  of  the  world,  Gen.  v.  21-24 ; 
Jude  vs.  14-15.    !N"oah  prophesied  of  the  destruction  of  the 


428  THE   HI8T0KY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

world  by  the  flood,  Gen.  vi.  1-22 ;  Heb.  xi.  7,  and  of  the 
future  condition  of  his  three  sons,  Gen.  ix.  18-29.  Job,  of  the 
coming  of  Christ  and  of  the  resurrection.  Job.  xiv.  10-14  ;  xix. 
25-27.  Abraham  revealed  the  promises  respecting  Christ, 
made  to  him  by  the  Lord  ;  set  in  his  flesh,  and  in  the  flesh  of 
his  house,  the  prophetic  sign  and  seal  of  His  future  appearing, 
and  made  known  the  destiny  of  his  sons  Ishmael  and  Isaac, 
Gen.  xii.  xv.-xvii.,  xxii.,  and  the  possession  of  the  land  of 
Canaan,  after  the  sojourning  and  bondage  of  his  seed  in  a  land 
not  theirs,  John  viii.  56.  Isaac,  his  heir,  repeated  these 
promises.  Gen.  xxvi.  1-6,  and  predicted  the  future  of  the  two 
nations  that  were  to  proceed  from  his  sons,  Jacob  and  Esau, 
Gen.  XXV.  21-23 ;  xxvii.  1-40.  Jacob,  the  heir  likewise  of  the 
same  promises,  on  his  death-bed  opened  the  future  history  of 
his  sous,  the  twelve  Patriarchs,  fixed  the  royal  power  in  Judah, 
declared  Shiloh  should  be  born  of  his  stock,  and,  in  anticipa- 
tion of  the  departure  of  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  the  house 
of  bondage,  ordered  his  dead  body  to  be  borne  away  and 
placed  in  the  sepulchre  of  his  fathers  in  the  promised  land, 
Gen.  xlviii-xlix.  Joseph  predicted  his  own  supremacy  over 
his  father's  house,  the  return  of  the  people  to  Canaan,  and  the 
approach  of  the  mercies  and  judgments  of  God  upon  Egypt, 
Gen.  xxxvii.,  xl.,  xli,  xliv.-l.  Moses,  that  eminent  prophet 
"  whom  the  Lord  knew  face  to  face,"  and  appointed  "  a 
servant  "  in  Christ's  "  own  house,"  "  for  a  testimony  of  these 
things  which  should  be  spoken  after,"  Heb.  iii.  4-6,  in  all  he 
wrote,  and  all  he  did,  but  spake  of  Christ,  John  v.  45-47,  and 
portrayed  the  history  of  the  Church  for  ages  to  come,  Levit. 
xxvi. ;  Deut.  xviii.,  xxviii.-xxxiv. ;  and  Balaam,  contemporary 
with  Moses,  predicted  the  glory  and  future  state  of  the  Church, 
and  the  appearance  of  the  Lord,  JSTumb.  xxii.-xxiv.  From  the 
death  of  Moses,  for  450  years  (while  the  judges  ruled),  to  the 
call  of  Samuel,  there  was  almost  an  entire  withdrawal  of  the 
spirit  of  prophecy.  It  spake  briefly  in  Deborah,  Judges  iv.  4, 
and  in  the  nameless  prophet,  sent  by  the  Lord  to  the  children 
of  Israel  with  a  message,  Judges  vi.  8.  This  long  cessation 
accounts  for  the  lively  interest  of  the  people  when  it  came  to 
be  understood  that  Samuel  was  called  of  God  not  only  to  be 


THREE   LINES   OF   PEOPHETS.  429 

an  inspired  preacher,  but  also  an  inspired  prophet,  1  Saml.  iii. 
19-21.  The  child  of  faith  and  of  prayer,  he  was  dedicated  by 
his  pious  mother  to  the  service  of  God  before  his  conception, 
carried  to  the  tabernacle  in  Shiloh  after  he  was  weaned,  "  and 
there  ministered  unto  the  Lord  before  Eli,  tlie  priest,  girded 
with  a  linen  ephod."  While  yet  a  youth,  "  the  Lord  revealed 
Himself  to  Samuel  in  Shiloh  by  the  word  of  the  Lord  ;  and 
the  Lord  was  with  him  and  did  let  none  of  his  words  fall  to 
the  ground  :  and  all  Israel,  from  Dan  to  Beersheba  knew  that 
Samuel  was  established  to  be  a  prophet  of  the  Lord,"  1  Saml. 
i.-iii. 

This  holy  and  distinguished  man  stands  at  the  head  of  that 
long  line  of  prophets,  Acts  iii.  24,  inspired  not  only  to  reveal 
and  enforce  the  will  of  God,  but  also  to  foretell  future  events 
— a  line  extending  some  years  beyond  the  return  of  the  Church 
from  the  seventy  years'  captivity  in  Babylonia.  Some  of  this 
second  line  appear  on  the  stage,  deliver  their  messages,  and 
retire  without  a  record  of  their  names  ;  others  are  chiefly  in 
the  courts  of  kings;  others  again  are  chiefly  among  the  people. 
Some  leave  no  collection  of  their  prophecies  in  books  ;  others, 
sixteen  in  all,  have  done  so,  namely,  the  four  greater  and 
the  twelve  lesser  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament.  Xot  unfre- 
quently  the  prophets  were  contemporary  with  each  other. 

The  prophetical  ofiice  was  an  extraordinary  one  :  essential, 
and  adapted  to  the  times  of  the  existing  Church,  wherein 
God  was  ruling  His  people  immediately,  delivering  His  will 
as  His  wisdom  saw  most  fitting,  declaring  His  counsels  of 
mercy,  or  of  judgment,  present  or  to  come,  as  well  to  the 
heathen  kingdoms,  as  to  His  own  Israel,  unfolding  more  or 
less  minutely  the  coming  and  glory  of  the  Messiah,  and  adding 
material  to  the  first  volume  of  inspiration,  until  He  closes  it  in 
its  perfection  by  the  hand  of  Malachi.  The  prophets  were 
called  of  God,  not  from  any  one  particular  class  or  order  of 
men,  but  from  any  and  all,  and  possessed  that  one  and  the 
self-same  spirit,  "  dividing  to  every  man  severally  as  He  will," 
1  Cor.  xii.  11.  They  spake  with  the  seal  and  authority  of  God ; 
and  kings,  priests  and  people  were  subject  unto  them,  Jer.  i. 

The  signs  and  seals  of  a  true  prophet,  to  himself  and  to  the 


430  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

people,  were  first,  inspiration,  of  which  the  prophet  was  made 
conscious  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  2  Sanil.  vii,  1-17 ;  Isa.  xxxviii. 
1-8.  All  inspired  persons  were  not  necessarily  prophets,  but 
all  prophets  were  necessarily  inspired  persons.  Second,  the 
power  of  working  miracles.  The  prophet  that  wrought  spuri- 
ous "  signs  and  wonders,"  should  be  put  to  death.  Third,  that 
revelations  and  teachings  should  be  in  correspondence  with, 
and  in  support  of  all  the  law  and  testimony  of  God,  Dent.  xiii. 
1-5  ;  Isa.  viii.  19-20 ;  Acts  xx.  27.  Fourth,  that  his  predic- 
tions should  come  to  pass,  Deut.  xviii.  9-22.  The  absence 
however  of  one  or  two  of  the  signs — for  example,  the  posses- 
sion of  power  to  work  miracles,  or  the  immediate  fulfilment  of 
predictions — would  not  necessarily  destroy  the  authority  and 
truth  of  the  prophet  who  possessed  in  full  measure  the  other 
signs  ;  if  it  were  otherwise,  then  so  far  as  the  Scriptm'es  testify, 
there  is  no  evidence  that  some  of  the  prophets  whose  books  are 
in  the  canon  did  work  miracles.  Personal  piety  was  not 
absolutely  necessary  in  a  true  prophet.  Balaam  was  a  true 
prophet,  but  he  was  no  true  child  of  God.  Inspiration  may 
exist  independent  of  regeneration  ;  yet,  we  believe  the  regular 
succession  in  both  lines  of  prophets,  the  first,  from  Enoch  to 
Moses,  and  the  second,  from  Samuel  to  Malachi,  were  all  pious 
men. 

Their  commission  ran  in  the  form  of  Jeremiah's :  "  Behold," 
said  the  Lord  unto  him,  "  1  have  put  my  words  into  thy 
mouth  :  I  have  this  day  set  thee  over  the  nations  and  over  the 
kingdoms,  to  root  out,  and  to  pull  down,  and  to  destroy,  and 
to  throw  down,  and  to  build,  and  to  plant,"  Jer.  i.  1-19. 
Their  spirit,  in  the  discharge  of  their  office,  was  that  of 
Micaiah,  "  As  the  Lord  liveth,  what  the  Lord  saith  unto  me 
that  will  I  speak,"  1  Kings  xxii.  14;  ITumb.  xxii.  38  ;  xxiv. 
13  ;  Jer.  xxxiii.  21-40.  The  manner  in  which  the  Lord  com- 
municated His  will  was  varied  :  by  appearing  to  his  servants, 
by  inward  revelations,  in  dreams,  visions,  voices,  and  by 
angels.  The  Apostle  says,  "  God  in  divers  manners  spake  by 
the  prophets,"  Heb.  i.  1 ;  and  the  effects  upon  the  bodies  and 
spirits  of  the  prophets  were  sometimes  remarkable.  Gen.  xv. 
12;    Dan.  viii.  10-18;    x.  1-21;    Habak.  iii.  16;    Rev.  i. 


SCHOOLS   OF    THE   PROPHETS.  431 

12-17 ;  Ezek.  i.  28.  False  prophets  at  intervals  arose  in  the 
Church  and  occasioned  great  trouble. 

Schools  for  the  training  of  prophets  were  established,  but  the 
date  of  their  rise  and  end  is  not  precisely  known.  Of  the  first 
company  or  school  mentioned,  Samuel  was  the  head  "  appointed 
over  them,"  and  in  all  probability  it  was  the  first  ever  known 
in  Israel,  1  Saml.  x.  5  ;  xix.  20.  Those  trained  in  the  schools 
were  termed  "  sons  of  the  prophets,"  or  simply  "  prophets  of 
the  Lord,"  and  existed  in  considerable  numbers.  In  the  days  of 
Ahab,  king  of  Israel,  the  good  Obadiah  hid  in  two  caves  one 
hundred  of  them  from  the  wrath  of  Jezebel,  1  Kings  xviii.  1-4. 
Elijah  and  Elisha  were  also  heads  of  schools,  2  Kings  ii.  15  ;  iv. 
38  ;  vi.  1-2.  The  schools  were  located  in  particular  places,  as 
in  Eamah,  1  Saml.  xix.  18-24,  Bethel,  Jericho,  and  Gilgal,  2 
Kings  ii.  1-5  ;  iv,  38  ;  xxii.  14.  The  sons  of  the  prophets 
were  known  by  their  appearance,  2  Kings  ix.  1-10 ;  xx. 
35-42.  Some  were  married,  2  Kings  iv.  1-7.  All  were 
esteemed  for  their  office  ;  and  from  them,  perhaps,  the  Lord 
ordinarily  called  men  to  special  service  in  the  prophetical 
office ;  but  not  so  always,  for  Amos  intimates  that  he  was  an 
exception  to  the  general  rule,  Amos  vii.  14-15.  "  I  was  no 
prophet,  neither  was  I  a  prophet's  son  :  but  I  was  an  herdman 
and  gatherer  of  sycamore  fruit."  Elisha  was  an  exception 
also,  1  Kings  xix.  15-21.  It  is  certain  that  the  "  sons  of  the 
prophets  "  could  not  all  have  been  called  to  the  prophetical 
office,  in  its  highest  form,  as  Samuel,  Isaiah,  and  others  were ; 
for  then  the  number  would  have  been  very  great,  and  some 
more  particular  notice  of  them  would  have  been  taken  in  the 
Scriptures. 

What  time  they  passed  in  the  schools,  upon  what  terms 
they  were  admitted,  what  courses  of  study  they  pursued,  and 
in  what  form  they  were  instructed  by  the  presiding  prophets 
are  all  matters  of  conjecture.  As  they  were  to  be  prophets  of 
the  Word,  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  must  have  been  the 
chief  study ;  and  as  Christ  is  the  great  theme  of  revelation,  and 
the  sum  of  all  preaching.  His  person  and  work  would  engage 
their  special  attention,  as  well  as  all  the  prophecies  which  speak 
of  Him,  of  His  coming,  and  tlie  future  glory  of  the  Church. 


432  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

Into  these  things,  the  Apostle  Peter  says,  "  the  prophets 
inquired  and  searched  diligently,"  1  Pet.  i.  10-11 ;  Acts  x. 
43  ;  iii.  18-24. 

The  order  of  pi-ophets,  revived  in  Samuel,  continued  over 
seven  hundred  and  tifty  years,  terminating  in  Malachi,  who, 
sealing  np  the  vision  and  the  testimony,  closes  the  canon  of 
the  Old  Testament  by  referring  the  Church  to  the  law  of 
Moses — the  whole  Old  Testament — as  the  all-sufficient  rule  of 
faith  and  practice  till  Messiah  should  come,  Mai.  iv.  4-6. 

For  four  hundred  years  the  voice  of  prophecy  was  silent, 
but  Israel  j)ossessed  and  "  heard  Moses  and  the  prophets."  At 
the  advent  of  Christ  begins  a  third  line  of  prophets.  The 
spirit  of  prophecy  was  poured  out  afresh  on  His  mother  Mary, 
on  Elizabeth,  Zechariah,  Simeon,  John  the  Baptist,  all  the 
apostles  and  many  others.  It  continued  in  the  Church  for  near 
one  hundred  years,  when  it  expired  in  the  Apostle  John.  The 
prophecies  reaching  from  the  coming  of  Christ  to  the  end  of 
the  world,  being  all  delivered  and  recorded,  and  God's  revela- 
tion finally  completed  by  the  closing  of  the  'New  Testament, 
the  spirit  of  inspiration  and  prophecy,  no  longer  necessary,  was 
withdrawn  from  the  Church  no  more  to  return. 

"With  this  fact  before  our  minds,  how  sublimely  and  impres- 
sively does  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ— -the  sum,  substance,  and 
glory  of  all  prophecy — conclude  His  revelation  to  His  Church, 
and  complete  the  perfect  Word  of  God  contained  in  the  Scrip- 
tures of  the  Old  and  the  ISTew  Testaments !  "  I  Jesus  have 
sent  mine  angel  to  testify  unto  you  these  things  in  the 
churches.  I  am  the  root  and  the  offspring  of  David,  and  the 
bright  and  the  morning-star.  And  the  Spirit  and  the  Bride 
say.  Come.  And  let  him  that  heareth  say.  Come.  And  let  him 
that  is  athirst,  come ;  and  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the 
water  of  life  freely.  For  I  testify  unto  every  man  that  heareth 
the  words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  book.  If  any  man  shall  add 
unto  these  things,  God  shall  add  unto  him  the  plagues  that  arc 
written  in  this  book :  and  if  any  man  shall  take  away  from  the 
words  of  the  book  of  this  prophecy,  God  shall  take  away  his 
part  out  of  the  book  of  life,  and  out  of  the  holy  city,  and  from 
the  things  which  are  written  in  this  book.   He  which  testifieth 


THE  KIKG8   OF   ISRAEL.  433 

these  things  saith,  Surely,  I  come  quickly.  Amen,"  Kev.  xxii. 
16-21. 

The  kingly  power  was  established  towards  the  close  of  the 
life  of  Samuel,  on  the  account  of  his  age  and  consequent 
inactivity,  as  well  as  the  unworthiness  of  his  sons  as  judges  ; 
but  the  real  cause  was  the  infidelity  of  the  people.  They  were 
dissatisfied  with  the  government  of  God,  and  desired  a  king 
after  the  manner  of  other  nations.  The  thing  displeased 
Samuel ;  but  the  Lord  said  to  him,  "  they  have  not  rejected 
thee,  but  they  have  rejected  Me,  that  I  should  not  reign  over 
them :  hearken  unto  their  voice :  howbeit  yet  solemnly  protest 
unto  them  and  show  them  the  manner  of  the  king  that  shall 
reign  over  them  "  (the  evil  manner,  the  evils  that  would  follow 
the  change).  Samuel  did  so :  "  ISTevertheless  the  people  refused 
to  obey  the  voice  of  Samuel :  and  they  said,  I^ay,  but  we  will 
have  a  king  over  us,  that  we  also  may  be  like  all  the  nations  : 
and  that  our  king  may  judge  us,  and  go  out  before  us  and  fight 
our  battles,"  1  Saml.  viii.  The  people  referred  the  selection 
of  a  king  to  Samuel,  and  he  carried  the  matter  to  the  Lord. 
"  He  gave  them  a  king  in  His  anger,"  yet  forsook  not  His 
ungrateful  and  rebellious  people,  Hos.  xiii.  9-11,  but  in  His 
pity  sent  Saul  the  son  of  Kish,  a  Benjamite,  to  Samuel  to  be 
anointed  captain  over  them,  to  deliver  them  out  of  the  hand 
of  the  Philistines,  "  because,"  saith  God,  "  their  cry  is  come 
unto  me,"  1  Saml.  ix.  15-16. 

This  change  of  tlie  government  was  foreordained,  and  the 
people  forewarned  of  it,  Deut.  xvii.  14-20  ;  for  Moses  left 
statutes  to  regulate  it  when  it  should  take  place,  namely,  that 
they  should  set  him  only  to  be  king  whom  the  Lord  their  God 
should  choose,  and  none  but  an  Israelite  ;  that  the  king  should 
not  multiply  horses,  or  in  other  words  essay  to  create  a  mili- 
tary kingdom,  reposing  on  his  own  power  and  not  on  the 
power  of  God  by  whom  he  reigned,  and  from  whom  he  derived 
his  sovereignty  ;  that  he  never  more  return  the  people  under 
the  power  of  Egypt ;  that  he  should  not  addict  himself  to 
sensual  pleasure,  by  the  multiplication  of  wives  to  the  turning 
of  his  heart  away  from  righteousness  and  God ;  and  that  he 
should  not  be  avaricious,  selfishly  accumulating  silver  and  gold, 
28 


434  THE   HI8T0KT   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

and  making  riches  liis  pride  and  trust.  On  the  contrary,  in  all 
things  he  should  be  subject  to  God  ;  providing  himself  with  a 
copy  of  the  law  of  God  for  his  own  use,  study,  and  direction, 
and  for  the  proper  conduct  of  himself  and  the  administration  of 
the  kingdom,  in  order  that  he  might  not  be  lifted  up  with  the 
pride  of  station  above  the  people,  who  were  his  brethren,  and 
who  were  to  be  treated  and  governed  by  him  as  such.  So 
ruling  in  the  fear  of  God,  length  of  days  and  prosperity  should 
be  granted  to  him  and  his  children,  Deut.  xvii.  14-20  ;  Gen. 
xvii,  6  ;  xxxv.  11,  etc.,  2  Kings  xi.  12. 

This  order  touching  the  kingly  power  and  its  after  history, 
proves  that  it  did  not  overturn  the  previously  existing  theoc- 
racy. The  king  was  God's  own  appointed  vicegerent,  subject 
to  his  control,  and  to  be  established  or  dethroned  according  to 
His  will. 

The  power  of  the  king  was  very  great.  He  acted  as  civil 
judge  over  the  people  in  appeal  cases,  and  as  commander-in- 
chief  of  all  the  forces  raised  for  the  defence  of  the  state.  He 
had  in  his  gift  the  offices  of  honor,  profit  and  trust ;  he  fixed 
the  revenues  of  the  kingdom  ;  made  peace  and  declared  war, 
and  exercised  as  king  (not  as  priest,  2  Chron.  xxvi.  19  ;  1 
Saml.  xiii.  8-12),  a  supervision  over  the  spiritual  affairs  and 
state  of  the  people,  so  as  to  encourage  piety,  correct  abuses, 
reprove  unworthy  officers  of  the  Church,  and  suppress  irre- 
ligion  and  idolatry.  All  this  power,  however,  was  to  be 
wielded  not  according  to  his  own  wisdom  and  will,  but  accord- 
ing to  the  law  of  God  which  gave  not  only  definite  statutes,  but 
established  principles  for  wise  and  just  government,  Deut. 
xvii.  14-20  ;  E"umb.  xxvii.  18-21. 

The  royal  power,  consequently,  was  not  absolute,  but  regu- 
lated and  controlled  by  a  written  constitution,  and  the  king 
was  approved  or  condemned,  as  he  upheld  or  disregarded  that 
constitution.  In  process  of  time,  the  Lord  forewarned  the  peo- 
ple that  the  kingly  power  was  abused  grossly  to  their  injury. 
Saul,  the  first  king,  for  unfaithfulness  and  presumptuous  sins  in 
office,  was  rejected  from  the  throne  with  all  his  house.  David 
was  appointed  in  his  stead,  1  Sam.  xiii.-xvi,  in  whose 
family  it  pleased  God  to  make  the  kingly  power  hereditary. 


NO    CHANGE   OF   THE   THEOCRACY.  435 

For  the  sins  of  bis  son  Solomon,  the  tribes  were  divided  into 
two  kingdoms.  The  kingdom  of  Jadah,  embracing  the  tribes 
of  Judah  and  Benjamin,  was  made  sure  to  the  house  of  David. 
The  kingdom  of  Israel,  embracing  the  remaining  ten  tribes  (of 
which  Ephraim  was  the  leading  tribe),  was  made  sure,  in  the 
first  instance,  to  the  house  of  Jeroboam,  but,  for  his  rebellion 
against  the  Lord,  it  was  transferred  to  another  house.  After 
ward,  for  the  same  cause  the  kingdom  was  transferred  from 
one  house  to  another,  until,  for  its  almost  universal  apostasy, 
it  was  finally  delivered  by  God  into  the  hands  of  Shalmaneser, 
and  allowed  to  be  carried  captive  into  Assyria.  The  kingdom 
of  Judah  continued  under  the  house  of  David  until  that  king- 
dom also  for  its  sins  was  carried  away  captive  into  Babylonia, 
by  ITebuchadnezzar.  The  seed  royal  of  the  house  of  David, 
preserved  in  the  captivity,  returned  with  the  people,  and  was 
afterwards  employed  in  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of 
the  nation  ;  but  to  what  extent,  and  for  how  long  a  time,  and 
with  what  interruptions,  (while  for  centuries  the  people  were 
subjected  by  turns  to  the  Babylonians,  Medes  and  Persians, 
Assyrians,  Egyptians,  Greeks  and  Romans,)  it  is  impossible  to 
determine.  The  prediction  of  Jacob,  however,  was  fulfilled  ; 
for  the  power  of  self-government  was  never  wholly  taken  from 
the  people  (and  they  enjoyed  it  fully  during  their  independence 
under  the  Asmonean  princes)  until  Shiloh  came.  Then  Judah 
lost  the  power  of  life  and  death,  and  was  finally  overthrown 
and  destroyed  in  its  civil  state  and  constitution,  under  the 
Emperor  Vespasian,  and  continues  so  until  this  day. 

Saul  came  to  the  throne  B.  0.  1095,  and  reigned  forty 
years.  While  he  was  reigning,  Samuel,  by  God's  command, 
anointed  David,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  to  succeed  him, 
because  Saul  had  shown  himself  unworthy  of  his  crown.  In 
the  battle  of  Gilboa,  this  unhappy  king — defeated  by  the  Phil- 
istines— his  three  valiant  sons  slain — himself  "  sore  wounded  of 
the  archers,"  and  seeing  that  the  day  had  gone  against  him 
with  terrible  loss — "  took  a  sword  and  fell  upon  it,"  (for  he 
could  not  persuade  his  armor-bearer  to  thrust  him  through  and 
kill  him,)  that  he  might  not  fall  alive  into  the  hands  of  the 


436  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

imcircumcised  Philistines,  1  Sara,  i.-xxxi.,  comp.  1  Chrou.  x. 
13-14. 

Altliougli  aware  of  David's  appointment,  Saul  long  and 
earnestly  sought  to  kill  him,  and  thereby  frustrate  the  will  of 
God  ;  but  through  a  series  of  divine  interpositions  David  was 
preserved,  and,  a  short  time  after  the  battle  of  Gilboa,  by  the 
counsel  of  God,  he  went  to  Hebron  and  was  there  anointed  and 
crowned  king  by  the  tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin,  who 
remained  true  to  the  succession  as  ordained  of  God,  B.  C. 
1055.  David  reigned  in  Hebron  seven  years.  Abner,  captain 
of  the  host  of  Saul,  carried  Ishbosheth,  Saul's  son,  to  Maha- 
naim,  and  proclaimed  him  king  over  the  remaining  ten  tribes. 
A  war  of  seven  years  between  the  rival  crowns  ensued,  in 
which  the  house  of  David  waxed  stronger  and  stronger,  and 
that  of  Saul,  weaker  and  weaker,  until  the  defection  of  Abner 
and  the  murder  of  Ishbosheth.  The  house  of  Saul  lost  all 
power,  and  the  ten  tribes  giving  in  their  adhesion  to  David,  he 
was  a  third  time  anointed  king  over  all  Israel,  B.  C.  1048. 
The  year  following  he  made  Jerusalem  the  capital,  and  reigned 
there  three  and  thirty  years.  Shortly  after,  with  due  state 
and  solemnity,  he  removed  the  ark  from  Kirjath-jearim  to 
Jerusalem,  and  purposed  to  build  a. house  for  God — a  design 
approved  and  accepted  of  God  ;  but  as  he  had  been  a  man  of 
war,  and  had  shed  much  blood,  the  work  was  committed  to 
his  son  Solomon. 

For  fifteen  years  after  he  began  to  reign  in  Jerusalem, 
(1048  to  1033)  he  was  much  engaged  in  wars,  and  succeeded  in 
subduing  the  old  enemies  of  Israel,  the  Philistines,  the  Edom- 
ites,  the  Amalekites,  the  Moabites,  the  Ammonites  and  the 
Syrians,  so  that  he  extended  his  kingdom  to  the  limits  origi- 
nally defined  by  the  Lord  in  his  promises  to  Abraham  and  to 
his  seed.  Gen.  xv.  18-21 ;  Dent.  xi.  23-24  ;  Josh.  i.  1-4,  comp. 
1  Kings  iv.  21-24 ;  2  Chron.  ix.  26.  David  and  Solomon 
only,  of  all  the  Idngs  (and  they  but  for  a  short  period  each), 
reigned  over  all  the  territory  which  the  Lord  had  given  to  His 
people  ;  and  this  brief  period  was  the  golden  age  of  the  tem- 
poral grandeur  of  the  Church. 

At  the  moment  that  David  was  accomplishing  the  over- 


THE  KINGS   OF   ISRAEL.  437 

throw  of  some  of  his  last  enemies,  the  Amorites,  enterini^  upon 
the  undisturbed  possession  of  his  heaven-appointed  kingdom, 
and  reaching  the  highest  pinnacle  of  royal  prosperity  and  glory, 
he  arose  one  evening  from  off  his  bed,  and  walked  upon  the 
roof  of  the  king's  house.  True  servant  of  God,  and  God's 
anointed  king  as  he  was,  he  fell  into  a  succession  of  crimes 
of  the  deepest  dye,  perpetrated  under  the  most  forbidding  cir- 
cumstances, 2  Sam.  xi.  ;  1  Chron.  xx.  The  thing  that  David 
did  was  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord.  The  prophet  Natlian 
was  commissioned  to  reprove,  and  to  declare  against  him  the 
judgments  of  God.  "  ]!^ow,  therefore,  the  sword  shall  never 
depart  from  thine  house,"  2  Sam.  xi,,  xii.  Divine  chastisements 
fell  upon  him  openly  and  successively,  "  before  all  Israel 
and  before  the  sun,"  clouding  the  last  years  of  the  aged  king 
with  many  sorrows  !  First,  came  the  death  of  his  infant  son 
by  Uriah's  wife,  2  Sam.  xi. ;  second,  the  incest  of  his  eldest  son 
Amnon  with  his  sister  Tamar,  2  Sam.  xiii.  ;  third,  the  murder 
of  Amnon  by  Ms  son  Absalom,  Tamar's  brother,  2  Sam.  xiii, 
23-33  ;  fourth,  Absalom's  flight  into  Syria  and  exile  for  three 
years,  2  Sam.  xiii.  38-39  ;  fifth,  Absalom's  rebellion,  in  which 
ten  tribes  revolted,  and  forced  him  to  flee  from  Jerusalem  for 
his  life,  2  Sam.  xv-xvii.  ;  sixth,  the  curses  of  Shimei,  and  the 
abominations  of  Absalom  upon  the  top  of  the  house,  "  in  the 
sight  of  all  Israel,"  2  Sam.  xvi. ;  seventh,  the  slaying  of  Absa- 
lom by  Joab,  2  Sam.  xviii. ;  eighth,  the  revolt  continued  under 
Sheba,  2  Sam.  xix. ;  ninth,  the  numbering  of  the  people  in  his 
pride  and  self-sufficiency,  and  consequent  loss  of  seventy  thou- 
sand of  his  subjects  by  pestilence,  2  Sam.  xxiv.  ;  2  Chron.  xxi.  j 
and  tenth,  the  rebellion  of  his  son  Adonijah  in  David's  old  age, 
1  Kings  i. 

Prospectively,  he  made  arrangements  for  the  building  of 
the  house  of  God,  God  giving  him  a  complete  and  written  pat- 
tern of  it,  as  He  had  before  given  Moses  a  complete  and  writ- 
ten  pattern  of  the  tabernacle.  By  the  same  inspiration  he 
ordained  the  arrangements  of  the  courses  of  the  priests  and 
Levites  for  the  ordinary  service,  and  for  conducting  the  songs 
of  the  Lord  with  voices,  psalteries,  cymbals,  and  harps ;  for 
porters  to  keep  the  courts  and  temple,  and  for  officers  over  the 


438  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF    GOD. 

sacred  treasm-es,  1  Chron.  xxiii.-xxviii. ;  and  according  to  the 
pattern  and  the  arrangement  so  did  Solomon  all  things.  Da- 
vid also  made  large  collections  of  all  required  materials,  and 
contributed  much  of  his  own  proper  substance  for  the  building, . 
interesting  the  officers  of  his  court,  and  the  priests,  Levites, 
and  principal  men  of  the  people  in  the  enterprise,  1  Chron. 
xxii.,  xxix.  His  last  j)ublic  act  was  the  assembling  of  all 
Israel,  princes  and  people,  making  them  an  impressive  ad- 
dress, appointing  a  second  time  and  crowning  Solomon  his 
son  and  successor  in  the  throne,  delivering  him  a  charge  of 
office  in  the  presence  of  God  and  his  people,  and  commending 
to  the  newly-crowned  king  and  people  the  building  of  the 
temple,  1  Chron.  xxviii.,  xxix. 

Solomon  succeeded  his  father  B.  C.  1014,  in  a  time  of  pro- 
found peace,  and  equalled  him  in  the  length  of  his  reign — forty 
years.  His  early  and  most  commendable  act  was  to  repair  to 
the  tabernacle,  then  in  Gibeon,  to  acknowledge  and  worship 
the  Lord,  the  Sovereign  King,  in  suitable  sacrifices.  There  the 
Lord  graciously  appeared  to  him  as  His  appointed  king,  and 
said,  "  Ask  what  1  shall  give  thee."  Solomon  piously  an- 
swered, "  Give  therefore  thy  servant  an  understanding  heart 
to  judge  Thy  people,  that  I  may  discern  bfetween  good  and 
bad  :  for  who  is  able  "  (that  is,  without  the  help  of  God),  "  to 
judge  this  Thy  so  great  people  ?  "  He  asked  not  "  long  life," 
nor  "  riches,"  nor  "  the  life  of  his  enemies  ;  "  but  "  under- 
standing, to  discern  judgment."  Therefore,  "  Behold,"  saith 
God,  "  I  have  done  according  to  thy  words  :  lo,  I  have  given 
thee  a  wise  and  an  understanding  heart,  so  that  there  was  none 
like  thee  before  thee ;  neither  after  thee  shall  any  arise  like 
unto  thee.  And  I  have  also  given  thee  that  which  thou  hast 
not  asked,  both  riches  and  honor,  so  that  there  shall  not  be 
any  among  the  kings  like  unto  thee  all  thy  days.  And  if  thou 
wilt  walk  in  my  ways  to  keep  my  statutes  and  my  command- 
ments, as  thy  father  David  did  walk,  then  I  will  lengthen  thy 
days,"  1  Ki.  i.  to  iii. 

The  state  criminals  left  by  his  father  he  properly  executed, 
and  thus  confirmed  his  throne.  In  the  second  month  of  the 
fourth  year  of  his  reign,  B.  C.  1012,  he  began  to  build  the 


THE   KINGS   OF   ISRAEL.  439 

house  of  the  Lord,  and  finished  it  in  seven  years,  on  the  eighth 
montli  of  the  eleventh  year  of  his  reign  ;  (or  in  seven  years  and 
a  half,  according  to  1  Ivi.  vi.,  1st  verse  compared  with  the 
38th ;)  and  in  the  year  following,  B.  C.  1004,  he  dedicated  it 
with  great  magnificence  in  a  holy  convocation  of  all  Israel. 
Sacrifices  of  sheep  and  oxen,  which  could  not  he  numbered 
for  multitude,  were  ofiered  before  the  ark  ;  ami  when  the 
priests  carried  the  ark  into  the  Holy  of  Holies,  and  came  out, 
"  the  cloud  filled  the  house  of  the  Lord,  so  that  the  priests 
could  not  stand  to  minister  because  of  the  cloud,  for  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  filled  the  house  of  the  Lord."  Then  King  Solo- 
mon kneeled,  with  his  hands  spread  up  to  heaven,  and  off'ered 
the  prayer  of  dedication,  blessing  the  people  ;  and,  at  the  con- 
clusion of  the  great  occasion,  dismissed  them  to  their  homes 
joyful  and  glad  of  heart,  1  Ki.  viii.  1-66.  The  Lord  ap- 
peared to  Solomon  the  second  time,  assuring  him  that  He  had 
heard  his  prayer,  and  had  blessed  the  temple  to  put  His  name 
there  forever,  promising,  if  he  walked  in  integrity,  to  establish 
his  throne  over  Israel ;  but  should  he  turn  from  the  Lord  and 
serve  other  gods.  He  would  cut  oflf  Israel  out  of  the  land,  and 
cast  the  house  which  He  had  hallowed  out  of  His  sight ! 

Solomon  was  .now  "  in  all  his  glory,"  and  "  God  gave  Solo- 
mon wisdom  and  understanding,  exceeding  much,  and  large- 
ness of  heart,  even  as  the  sand  that  is  on  the  sea-shore ;  he 
was  wiser  than  all  men  ;  he  spake  three  thousand  proverbs  : 
and  his  songs  were  a  thousand  and  five.  And  he  spake  of 
trees,  from  the  cedar  tree  that  is  in  Lebanon,  even  unto  the 
hyssop  that  springeth  out  of  the  v/all ;  he  spake  also  of  beasts, 
and  of  fowl,  and  of  creeping  things  and  of  fishes.  And  there 
came  of  all  people  to  hear  the  wisdom  of  Solomon  from  all 
kings  of  the  earth,  which  had  heard  of  his  wisdom."  He 
reigned  over  the  promised  boundaries  ;  "  over  all  the  kingdoms 
from  the  river  unto  the  land  of  the  Philistines,  and  unto  the 
border  of  Egypt ;  "  "  there  was  neither  adversary  nor  evil 
occurrent."  His  army  Avas  numerous,  and  in  a  state  of  perfect 
equipment ;  his  cities  were  fortified :  agriculture  caused  his 
kingdom  to  blossom  as  the  rose ;  commerce  by  land  and  by 
sea  poured  the  treasures  of  all  nations  into  it,  and  "  Judah  and 


440  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

Israel  were  many  as  the  sand  which  is  by  the  sea  in  multitude, 
eating  and  drinking  and  making  merry."  His  revenues  were 
ample,  and  his  capital  adorned  with  the  temple  and  royal  pal- 
aces. "  He  exceeded  all  the  kings  of  the  earth  for  riches  and 
for  wisdom  ;  "  and,  to  crown  the  whole,  "  Solomon  loved  the 
Lord,  walking  in  the  statutes  of  David  liis  father :  only  he 
sacrificed  and  burnt  incense  in  high  places,"  1  Ki.  i.-x.  The 
early  years  of  his  reign  constituted  the  golden  age  of  the  civil 
state  of  the  Church. 

But  Solomon  violated  the  commands  of  God  both  as  an 
Israelite  and  a  king ;  for  he  made  affinity  with  Pharaoh,  king 
of  Egypt,  by  marrying  his  daughter,  and  multijtlied  wives — a 
thing  forbidden  to  the  king — taking  them  in  great  numbers 
from  the  heathen  nations — a  thing  forbidden  to  all  Israelites. 
He  indulged  his  strange  wives  in  the  practice  of  idolatry  of  the 
most  infamous  kind.  He  built  their  high  places  and  their 
altars,  where  they  sacrificed,  and  he  himself  went  after  some  of 
their  gods ;  "  and  the  Lord  was  angry  with  Solomon,"  because 
his  heart  was  turned  from  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  which  had 
appeared  unto  him  twice."  His  spiritual  decline  laid  the 
foundation  of  his  temporal  decline,  for  the  Lord  soon  testified 
his  displeasure  by  announcing  that  ten  tribes  should  be  rent 
from  his  kingdom  in  his  son's  days,  and  given  to  his  servant 
Jeroboam.  Instead  of  repentance  and  submission,  he  vainly 
and  wickedly  attempted  to  kill  Jeroboam,  and  thereby  frus- 
trate the  will  of  God.  The  Lord  also  raised  up  other  adver- 
saries against  him — Hadad  the  Ammonite,  and  Kezon,  who 
reigned  in  Damascus,  1  Ki.  xi.  Solomon  died  B.  C,  975,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Rehoboam,  1  Ki.  xii. 

We  witness  almost  an  entire  suspension  of  miracles  in  the 
reigns  of  Saul,  David,  and  Solomon,  for  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years.  Just  before  the  anointing  of  Saul,  while  Sam- 
uel judged  Israel,  "  the  Lord  thundered  with  a  great  thunder," 
on  a  day  of  battle  with  the  Philistines,  and  discomfited  them, 
1  Sam.  vii.  8-13.  After  the  anointing,  to  convince  the  people 
of  their  sin  in  asking  a  king,  Samuel  called  unto  the  Lord,  and 
the  Lord  sent  thunder  and  rain  that  day,  during  wheat  harvest 
— a  time  when  rain  seldom  or  never  fell,  1  Sam.  xii.  13-25. 


INCREASE  OF  PEOPHECY.  441 

In  the  reigu  of  Saul,  Jonathan  and  his  armor-bearer,  by  power 
from  God  assaulted  the  garrison  of  the  Philistines,  and  God 
sent  a  great  earthquake  to  increase  the  terror,  1  Sam.  xiv. 
6-23.  There  was  also  the  raising  of  Samuel  by  the  witch  of 
Endor,  the  Lord  performing  that  miracle,  which  the  witch  of 
Endor  designed  to  counterfeit,  1  Sam.  xxviii.  1-25.  Xo 
miracles  are  recorded  in  the  reign  of  David,  (unless  we  call  his 
slaying  the  lion,  the  bear,  and  Goliath,  miracles,)  nor  in  that 
of  Solomon  ;  nevertheless  the  Lord  revealed  Himself  by  Urim 
and  Thummim,  through  His  j)rophets,  also  in  visions,  as  with 
Solomon,  and  by  visible  manifestations,  as  at  the  dedication 
of  the  temple  when  the  cloud  and  the  glory  descended  and 
filled  it. 

There  is,  however,  a  large  advance  in  the  predictions  and 
revelations  of  the  coming  Kedeemer,  and  the  future  glory  of 
His  Church.  The  prophet  ISTathan  delivered  a  message  to 
David  of  promises  and  predictions  which  were  fulfilled  in  him- 
self and  in  his  son  Solomon,  but  spiritually  and  perfectly  in 
Messiah,  of  whom  they  were  both  types,  2  Sam.  vii.  1-17 ;  1 
Chron.  xvii. ;  Heb.  i.  5.  David  was  the  most  eminent  type  of 
Christ  in  all  the  Scriptures,  both  in  his  person  and  office.  He 
was  the  beloved  and  anointed  of  the  Lord — a  king  ruling  with 
equity  and  glory  over  all  the  territories  promised  to  the 
Church.  To  this  exalted  state  he  attained  through  Aveary 
years  of  persecution,  sufiering,  and  conflict.  Solomon  suc- 
ceeded to  his  dominions  and  glory,  1  Ki.  viii.  20  ;  ii.  12  ;  but 
it  was  reserved  to  his  Son,  the  true  David  "  according  to  the 
flesh,"  to  receive  of  the  Lord  the  throne  of  David  His  father, 
and  to  reign  over  the  house  of  Jacob  forever,  of  whose  king- 
dom there  should  be  no  end.  To  the  throne  He  was  ordained, 
and  to  it  He  came  through  persecution,  sufiering,  and  victory 
over  all  His  enemies.  Of  Him^  saith  God,  "  He  shall  build  an 
house  for  my  name,  and  I  will  establish  the  throne  of  His 
kingdom  forever,  and  I  will  be  His  Father  and  He  shall  be 
my  Son,"  Ps.  Ixxii. ;  Ezek.  xxxiv.  23-21 ;  Luke  i.  32-33  ;  Isa. 
xi.  1 ;  Jer.  xxiii.  5  ;  xxxiii.  15  ;  Eev.  xxi.  16.  The  house  of 
David  is  designated  as  that  in  Judah  from  which  Messiah 
should  descend. 


442         THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHUECH  OF  GOD. 

David  was  the  prophet  of  these  times.  Of  the  one  hundred 
and  fifty  Psalms,  he  contributed  seventy-three,  according  to 
their  titles ;  and  if  tlie  last  verse  of  the  seventy-second  is  ad- 
mitted to  belong  to  the  Psalm  itself,  then  he  is  the  author  of 
seventy-four,  besides  others  without  titles  which  are  ascribed 
to  him.  Of  his  Psalms,  the  2d,  8th,  16th,  22d,  40th,  45th, 
68th,  69th,  ■72d,  102d,  and  110th,  are  minutely  prophetical  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  His  person,  office,  work,  and  charac- 
ter. They  declare  His  divinity  and  His  humanity — David's 
Lord,  and,  according  to  the  flesh,  his  son,  Ps.  v.,  Ixviii.,  cii.,  ex. 
— the  eternal  God  and  creator  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth, 
who,  in  obedience  to  the  Father's  will,  for  man's  redemption, 
became  incarnate,  Ps.  xl.  6-9  ;  Ps.  Ixii. — the  real  sacrifice  for 
sin  of  Avhich  all  the  sacrifices  of  the  law  were  shadows — the 
substitute  and  surety  of  His  people,  Ps.  xl.  6-12 — persecuted 
and  betrayed  by  one  of  His  disciples — a  sufi'ering  and  crucified 
Eedeemer,  upon  whom  His  enemies  poured  reproach  and 
scorn,  pierced  His  hands  and  His  feet,  cast  lots  upon  His  ves- 
ture, and  gave  Him  vinegar  and  gall  to  di'ink,  Ps.  xxii.,  xlix., 
Ixix.  They  declare  that  He  died  and  was  buried,  saw  no  cor- 
ruption, was  raised  to  life  again,  and  exalted  to  God's  right 
hand  in  heaven,  Pss.  xvi.  9-11 ;  Ixviii.  18  ;  ex.  1 ;  that  He 
was  manifested  to  be  the  Son  of  God  and  King  in  Zion,  Ps.  ii. 
6-7 ;  that  He  had  consecrated  Himself  to  His  mediatorial 
work,  Pss.  xvi.  1-11 ;  xl.  6-10  ;  Ixix.  1-9,  and  sits  as  God- 
mediator  upon  His  eternal  throne,  ruling  in  righteousness, 
having  universal  dominion,  Pss.  ii.  8-12 ;  viii.  1-9  ;  Pss. 
Ixviii.,  Ixxii.,  ex.,  xlv.  6-Y ;  glorious  in  person  and  character, 
Ps.  xlv.  8  ;  Ixxii.  1-20  ;  the  great  Shepherd  of  His  sheep,  Ps. 
xxiii. ;  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever,  Ps.  Ixviii. 
1-35  ;  the  Spouse  of  the  Church,  Ps.  xlv.  9-17,  to  whom  the 
Church  is  subject,  and  from  whom  she  receives  gifts,  Ps.  ex. ; 
a  perpetual  priest  upon  His  throne,  after  the  order  of  Melchize- 
dek,  Ps.  ex. ;  the  object  of  universal  reverence  and  worship, 
Ps.  ii.  9-12  ;  Ps.  Ixxii.  1-20,  the  Saviour  of  all  who  trust  in 
Him,  Ps.  ii.  12,  etc. ;  the  Lord,  to  reign  until  all  His  enemies 
should  be  made  His  footstool,  and  His  dominion  be  from  the 
rising  of  the  sun  to  the  going  down  of  the  same.     David  mag- 


DAVID   THE   PKOPHET   OF    THE   TIMES.  443 

nified  Christ  as  prophet,  priest,  and  king,  and  saw  the  glory 
which  should  follow  His  snfi'erings  ;  predicted  the  calling  of 
the  Gentiles  and  the  future  enlargement  of  the  Church,  Ps. 
xxii.  22-31;  xlvi.  1-7;  Ixviii.  31-32;  Ixxii.  8-17;  Ixxxvi. 
9  ;  was  filled  with  joy  at  the  prospect,  and  longed  for  the  sal- 
vation of  the  heathen,  and  for  the  approach  of  the  day  when 
"  all  nations  should  call  Him  blessed,"  and  "  the  whole  earth 
be  filled  with  His  glory,"  Ps.  Ixxii. 

The  heart  of  the  true  believer  is  the  same  in  all  ages.  The 
spirit  of  the  prayer,  "  Thy  kingdom  come.  Thy  will  be  done 
on  earth,  as  in  Heaven,"  has  always  been  in  the  heart  of  the 
true  believer.  The  spirit  of  missions  was  in  the  Church  before 
our  Saviour  came  ;  the  work  of  missions  was  committed  to  it 
after  He  came. 

Solomon  also  made  known  Christ  under  the  title  of  Wis- 
dom, existing  with  God  before  the  creation,  rejoicing  in  the 
habitable  parts  of  the  earth,  delighting  in  the  sons  of  men, 
conversing  with  and  calling  them  to  come  to  Him  and  live, 
Prov.  viii.  1-36,  In  his  Song  of  Songs,  he  exhibits  the  inti- 
mate union  of  Christ  and  His  Church,  the  bridegroom  and  the 
bride,  and  speaks  of  the  bridegroom  under  his  own  name,  he 
being  a  type  of  Christ. 

Jerusalem,  the  capital  of  Israel,  and  the  temple  therein, 
became  the  type  of  heaven,  and  of  the  upper  temple,  into  which 
Christ  entered,  and  presented  His  own  blood,  obtaining  eter- 
nal redemption  for  us,  Heb.  ix.  1-28  ;  xii.  22-24  ;  Rev.  xxi. 
1-27. 

The  spiritual  state  of  the  Church  in  the  reign  of  Saul  was 
not  jDropitious.  The  people  were  much  interested  in  the  out- 
ward change  in  their  government,  and  were  frequently  at  war 
with  their  old  and  inveterate  enemies,  the  Philistines.  Saul, 
although  receiving  from  the  Lord  a  new  spirit,  that  is,  a  spirit 
inclining  him  to  accept  the  oflSce,  and  to  discharge  the  duties 
of  a  king,  his  heart  remaining  unchanged,  shortly  after  his 
elevation  to  the  throne,  failed  to  execute  the  great  trusts  com- 
mitted to  him,  being  in  nature  impatient,  presumptuous,  self- 
willed,  time-serving,  and  rebellious.  After  he  was  rejected  of 
the  Lord,  he  became  jealous,  tyrannical,  and  cruel.     He  how- 


444  THE  HISTORY   OF    THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

ever  stowed  a  zeal  for  God,  but  not  at  all  times  according  to 
knowledge  ;  for  he  undertook  to  slay  the  Gibeonites,  descend- 
ants of  the  old  and  doomed  inhabitants  of  the  land,  whom  God 
had  spared  and  turned  into  the  service  of  the  sanctuary.  He 
executed  the  laws  against  wizards,  and  destroyed  them  out  of 
the  land,  so  far  as  he  had  knowledge  of  them.  He  outwardly 
honored  the  Lord  in  offering  sacrifices,  was  temperate  in  his 
appetites,  and  there  is  mention  of  but  two  wives  in  his  family. 
But  he  was  subject  to  great  reverses  in  temper  and  conduct ; 
for  his  confessions  in  wrong-doing  were  not  followed  by  radical 
improvement.  David  could  not  trust  him.  He  was  a  brave 
man  and  a  successful  warrior,  ambitious  of  power  and  fame, 
and  devoted  to  the  service  of  his  country.  Well  did  he  and 
his  son  Jonathan  deserve  the  graphic  and  beautiful  eulogy 
pronounced  by  David  on  his  death.  "  Saul  and  Jonathan  were 
lovely  and  pleasant  in  their  lives,  and  in  their  death  they  were 
not  divided  ;  they  were  swifter  than  eagles,  they  were  stronger 
than  lions,"  2  Sam.  i.  lT-27.  "When  David  rose  in  popularity 
in  the  kingdom,  and  was  anointed  his  successor,  Saul  became 
his  implacable  persecutor,  sought  his  life  in  every  way  that 
envy  and  hate,  unrestrained  either  by  the  fear  of  God,  or  the 
favor  of  men  could  suggest,  and  arrayed  himself  against  the 
decree  of  God.  On  one  occasion  he  cruelly  butchered  a  whole 
city  of  unoflfending  priests,  who  were  falsely  accused  of  favor- 
ing the  cause  of  David ;  and,  on  another,  attempted  the  life 
of  his  favorite  and  noble  son  Jonathan  for  the  same  reason. 
Finally,  pressed  by  his  enemies  and  driven  to  desperation  by 
his  own  wicked  passions,  turning  his  back  impiously  iipon 
God,  he  consulted  the  witch  of  Endor,  and,  next  day,  defeated 
and  sore  wounded  in  battle,  he  fell  upon  his  sword  and  died 
by  his  own  hand  ! 

The  character  and  conduct  of  the  king  must  have  seriously 
affected  the  people  :  and  while  the  ordinary  means  of  grace 
were  enjoyed,  the  piety  in  the  Church  could  not  have  been 
flourishing,  especially  after  the  death  of  Samuel. 

Aq  improvement  occurs  in  the  reign  of  David,  who  is 
styled  "  the  man  after  God's  own  heart  "—a  commendation 
of  him  especially  as  a  king  who  faithfully  executed  the  will  of 


spmrruAL  state  of  the  church.  445 

God,  under  wliom  he  reigned ;  nor  did  lie  depart  from  the 
Lord  save  in  the  matter  of  Uriah's  wife.  An  accomplished, 
and  talented  man,  a  great  statesman  and  warrior,  he  was  ever 
a  worshipper  of  God,  ever  associating  with  the  godly  prophets, 
priests,  and  people.  In  his  zeal  he  removed  the  ark  to  Jeru- 
salem, designed  the  building  of  the  temple,  interested  his 
whole  kingdom  in  its  erection,  contributed  and  made  collec- 
tions for  the  purpose,  executed  justice,  promoted  piety,  regu- 
lated the  service  of  the  sanctuary,  introduced  singing  largely 
into  divine  worship,  and  was  the  sweet  "  Psalmist  of  Israel," 
composing  his  Psalms  to  be  sung  in  the  solemn,  assemblies  and 
in  the  daily  worship,  2  Chron.  xxix.  30  ;  Eph.  v.  19  ;  Col.  iii. 
16  ;  2  Chron.  xxiii.  18  ;  and,  in  all  the  varied  scenes  of  his 
eventful  life,  especially  in  the  persecutions  which  he  endured, 
he  approved  himself  one  of  the  most  eminent  saints  of  the 
Lord.  The  Holy  Spirit  has  enrolled  his  name  among  the 
elders  who  "  by  faith  obtained  a  good  report,"  Heb.  xi.  32. 

For  exalted  views  of  God,  of  His  works  and  His  "Word  ; 
for  the  measurement  of  the  height,  depth,  length,  and  breadth 
of  the  experience  of  the  child  of  God  ;  for  the  exhibition  of  his 
graces  in  every  event  of  his  life  ;  for  clear  revelations  of  the 
Redeemer ;  for  heavenliness  of  mind  ;  for  faith,  hope,  and  joy 
in  God  ;  for  exalted  praises  ;  interest  in  Zion,  and  in  the  sal- 
vation of  men,  the  sweet  Psalmist  of  Israel  will  ever  hold  his 
place  among  the  most  holy,  most  honored,  and  most  useful 
among  the  inspired  penmen  of  the  Word  of  God.  His  Psalms 
ever  have  been,  since  their  composition,  and  ever  will  be,  the 
delight,  comfort,  and  support  of  believers,  and  are  perhaps  as 
much  read  as  any  other  portion  of  the  Word  of  God.  His 
sins,  from  his  first  entrance  on  the  stage — a  stripling  shepherd 
of  the  wilderness — to  the  last  scene  of  decrepit  old  age  in  his 
royal  bed,  considering  his  numerous  trials, "afflictions,  and  re- 
verses, are  few  indeed.  Tet  one  is  on  record  of  appalling 
heinousness  and  magnitude,  which  singles  him  out  as  having 
sinned  as  no  child  of  God  ever  sinned  before ! — a  sin  illustrat- 
ing the  amount  and  depth  of  depravity  that  may  remain  in  the 
soul  of  the  believer  even  after  long  profession  and  faithful 
service  of  God — a  sin  too  which   Infinite  Wisdom   has  had 


446  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

recorded  for  the  humiliation  and  warning,  as  well  as  for  the 
comfort  and  support  of  His  people  in  all  ages  ;  and  which  He 
has  overruled  for  good  through  the  composition  and  insertion 
into  the  sacred  canon,  of  the  fifty-first  Psalm,  of  which  the 
royal  transgressor  is  himself  the  author — a  Psalm  containing 
the  fullest,  most  perfect,  and  afi'ecting  expression  of  the  grace 
of  time  repentance  anywhere  to  be  found  in  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tm-es,  and  unto  which  all  true  penitents  do  continually  resort, 
and  make  it  their  own.  His  fall  from  the  exercise  of  grace, 
(but  not  from  that  state  of  grace  in  which  as  a  justified  and 
accepted  believer  in  Clirist  he  stood,)  "  gave  great  occasion  to 
the  enemies  of  the  Lord  to  blaspheme ; "  therefore  did  he 
suffer  open  rebuke  and  chastisement  from  the  Lord,  John  x. 
27-30  ;  Rom  v.,  viii. 

David  multiplied  his  wives,  but  they  turned  not  his  heart 
away  from  the  Lord,  although  he  failed  in  the  due  government 
and  training  of  his  children,  as  the  moral  state  of  some  of  them 
gave  ample  proof.  Religion  flourished  in  the  Church  until 
his  great  transgi'ession,  which  brought  on  him  troubles  and 
afflictions  in  which  his  people  largely  participated ;  and  conse- 
quently religion  itself  suffered. 

Solomon,  soon  after  his  accession,  set  his  heart  to  the 
service  of  God  and  to  the  wise  and  equitable  government  of 
his  people,  built  and  dedicated  the  temple,  "  exceeding  magni- 
fical,"  and  set  in  order  its  services.  The  temporal  and  spiritual 
prosperity  of  the  Church  went  for  a  while  hand  in  hand.  He 
composed  his  book  of  Proverbs  for  the  edification  of  God's 
people  of  every  age  and  condition,  especially  in  the  practice 
of  hohness  according  to  the  law  of  God  and  the  graces  of  the 
Spirit.  In  that  book,  as  already  observed,  he  makes  known 
the  Redeemer  under  the  title  of  Wisdom,  existing  from  eter- 
nity, and  delighting  in  the  instruction  and  salvation  of  men, 
Prov.  viii.  1-36.  In  his  Song  of  Songs,  under  the  figure  of 
marriage,  he  exhibits  Christ  and  His  Church,  and  unfolds 
(doubtless  from  his  own  spiritual  experience)  the  joys  and  sor- 
rows, hopes  and  fears  of  the  true  believer,  arising  from  his 
communion  and  union  with,  or  his  separation  from  Him  whom 
his  soul  loveth — "  the  chiefest  among  ten  thousand,"  "  alto- 


PE0GKES8   OF   THE   OLD   TESTA^IENT   CANOX.  447 

gether  lovely."  But  this  exalted  man  fell  from  his  integrity, 
especially  in  the  multiplication  of  his  wives,  who  turned  away 
his  heart  from  God.  He  lost  his  first  love ;  his  graces  de- 
clined ;  and  he  not  only  tolerated,  but  even  aided  and  united 
with  his  outlandish  women  in  their  idolatries.  By  his  exam- 
ple and  permission  he  rooted  idolatry  so  deeply  in  the  land, 
that  it  never  was  eradicated  until  the  whole  people  were  sent 
into  captivity !  Religion  declined  in  the  latter  part  of  his 
reign. 

TVas  Solomon  a  converted  man  ?  The  fact  is  established 
by  the  promise  of  God  to  David  concerning  him.  "He  shall 
build  an  house  for  my  name,  and  I  will  establish  the  throne 
of  his  kingdom  forever.  I  will  be  his  Father,  and  he  shall  be 
my  Son  :  if  he  commit  iniquity  I  will  chasten  him  with  the 
rod  of  men  and  with  the  stripes  of  the  children  of  men ;  but 
my  mercy  shall  not  depart  away  from  him,  as  I  took  it  from 
Saul,  whom  I  put  away  before  thee,"  2  Sam.  vii  12-15.  The 
promise  implies  more  than  ordinary  regard  for  Solomon  as  a 
king ;  he  was  to  be  a  son,  a  child  of  God,  in  the  highest  and 
best  sense,  and  a  type  of  Christ.  He  did  commit  iniquity  and 
the  Lord  chastised  him,  but  took  not  His  mercy  away  from 
him,  as  may  be  inferred  from  his  being  the  author  of  three 
books,  Proverbs,  Ecclesiastes,  and  the  Song  of  Songs,  (no 
books  of  the  sacred  canon  ever  having  been  written  except  by 
converted  men,)  and  from  the  honorable  mention  of  him  by 
our  Lord,  Matt.  xii.  42.  The  book  of  Ecclesiastes  is  a  record 
of  his  works  and  his  experience  in  the  worldly  enjoyments 
which  he  proposed  to  himself,  and  of  his  retuiii,  after  all  .his 
wanderings,  unto  the  Lord  as  his  true  portion  :  "  Let  us  hear 
the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter.  Fear  God,  and  keep  His 
commandments,  for  this  is  the  whole  duty  of  man :  for  God 
shall  bring  every  work  into  judgment,  with  every  secret 
thing,  whether  it  be  good  or  whether  it  be  evil,"  Eccle.  xii. 
13-14. 

At  his  death,  in  respect  of  time,  above  three-fourths  of  the 
history  of  the  Old  Testament  M'ere  written  ;  in  respect  of  mat- 
ter a  little  over  one-half;  and  in  respect  of  the  number  of 
books,  about  fourteen  out  of  the  thirty-nine,  namely,  Genesis, 


448  THE   HISTOEY   OF  THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

Exodus,  Leviticus,  JSTumbers,  Deuteronomy,  Josliua,  Judges, 
Ruth,  First  and  Second  Samuel,  one  half  of  the  first  book  of 
K-ings,  and  of  the  book  of  Psalms,  the  Proverbs  of  Solomon, 
his  Ecclesiastes,  and  Song  of  Songs. 


DIVISION   OF  TH^   KINGDOMS.  4ri9 


CHAPTER   XXYII. 

DIVISION  OP  THE  KINGDOMS,  NOT  DESIGNED  TO  BE  PERPETUAL,  DID  NOT 
DESTROY  THE  THEOCRACY. — HISTORY  OF  KINGDOM  OF  ISRAEL,  DEGENE- 
RATE, CARRIED  INTO  CAPTIVITY. — GENERAL  APOSTACY  FROM  GOD  FROM 
ITS  BEGINNING. — A  REMNANT  ACCORDING  TO  THE  ELECTION  OP  GRACE. 
— DEALINGS  OF  GOD  IN  JUDGMENTS  AND  MERCIES  TO  SAVE  THE  KING- 
DOM.— HIS  PROMISE  OP  RESTORATION  FROM  CAPTIVITY. — ^NO  NOTICE  OF 
THE  CAPTIVES  FOR  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY-THREE  YEARS. — TERRI- 
TORIES OP  ISRAEL  COLONIZED  FROM  ASSYRIA. — THE  SAMARITANS,  THEIR 
HISTORY. 

•  The  ten  tribes  revolted  three  times  against  the  throne  of 
David  :  first,  under  Abner  and  Ish-botheth  after  the  death  of 
Saul,  for  seven  years ;  second,  under  Absalom,  and  at  his 
deatli  under  Sheba,  of  short  continuance  ;  and  third,  immedi- 
ately after  the  death  of  Solomon,  under  Jeroboam.  They  were 
never  again  united  with  the  other  two  tribes  under  one  sceptre, 
and  in  their  own  country,  until  their  return  from  captivity. 
The  ten  tribes  forming  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  revolted  under 
Jeroboam,  B,  C.  975,  and  were  finally  and  totally  carried  into 
captivity  by  Sbalmanescr,  king  of  Assyria,  B.  C.  T21,  liaving 
existed  independent  of  the  throne  of  David,  254  years.  The 
kingdom  of  Judah,  embracing  Judah  and  Benjamin,  and  Levi, 
for  the  most  part,  continued  115  years  longer,  to  B.  C.  606, 
when  ]^ebuchadnezzar  first  took  Jerusalem,  and  from  which 
date  the  70  years  of  Judah's  captivity  take  tlicir  rise.  If  to  the 
254  years  of  the  existence  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel  we  add 
115,  reaching  to  the  end  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah,  and  to  this 
some  70  more  for  the  captivity  of  Judah,  then,  from  the  sepa- 
ration of  the  tribes  into  independent  kingdoms  to  their  union 
29 


450  THE   HISTOKY    OF   THE   CHURCH   OF    GOD. 

again  after  the  captivity,  there  is  the  long  separation  of  439 
years  (from  975  to  536  B.  C).  But  meanwhile  they  were  not 
without  much  intercoui-se  and  cormection,  for  they  never  for- 
got their  unity  in  origin,  in  history,  in  religion,  and  in  destiny. 
They  were  mingled  among  the  nations,  but  were  never  lost  to 
each  other  ;  they  were  one  people  still. 

The  political  separation  was  a  judgment  upon  the  house  of 
David  for  the  sins  of  Solomon  ;  and  however  mysterious  and 
pregnant  with  evil,  we  know  that  infinite  wisdom  and  goodness 
arranged  it  all.  Yet  this  judgment  was  not  designed  to  rest 
upon  the  throne  of  David  forever,  as  God  expressly  told  Jero- 
boam when  He  appointed  him  the  future  king  of  Israel,  1  Kings 
xi.  39.  The  division  should  in  after  ages  be  healed,  and  the 
tribes  should  once  more  be  united  and  be  ruled  by  the  house 
of  David,  which  also  came  to  pass.  Jeroboam  was  divinely 
appointed  through  the  prophet  Ahijah,  God's  vicegerent  and 
king  over  Israel,  and  with  a  promise  identical  with  that  which 
had  been  given  to  the  house  of  David.  "  I  will  give  ten  tribes 
to  thee  ;  thou  shalt  be  king  over  Israel ;  and  it  shall  be  if  thou 
wilt  hearken  unto  all  that  I  command  thee  and  wilt  walk  in 
my  ways,  and  do  that  is  right  in  my  sight,  to  keep  my  statutes 
and  my  commandments  as  David  my  servant  did,  that  I  will 
be  with  thee  and  build  thee  a  sure  house,  as  I  built  for  David, 
and  will  give  Israel  unto  thee,"  with  the  reservation,  however, 
''  and  I  will  for  this  afflict  the  seed  of  David,  but  not  forever," 
1  Kings  xi.  29-39.  When  Jeroboam  presumptuously  sinned, 
the  Lord  cut  him  off  and  gave  the  throne  to  another,  1  Kings 
xiv.  1-20.  And  to  the  end  of  the  kingdom  He  set  up  and 
removed  kings  at  His  pleasure,  each  and  every  one  holding  the 
throne  by  His  appointment  and  permission.  He  continued 
also  to  send  Ilis  prophets,  rising  up  early,  and  sending  them 
to  visit  the  people  for  their  sins :  finally  sending  them  into 
captivity,  and  bringing  them  back  to  their  own  land  as  His 
people. 

The  kingdom  of  Israel  embraced  five  times  as  many  tribes 
as  that  of  Judah,  and  covered  a  greater  extent  of  territory ; 
yet  the  difference  in  population  between  the  two  kingdoms 
was  not  very  great.      "Without  attempting  to  reconcile  the 


JEEOBOAM  THE  HEAD  OF  THE  TEN  TRIBES.       451 

returns  made  by  Joab  of  the  numbering  of  the  people  in  the 
reign  of  David,  2  Saml.  xxiv.  ;  and  1  Chron.  xxi.  1-6  ;  xxvii. 
23-24  but  adopting  2  Saml.  xxiv.  1-9,  the  ten  tribes  returned 
"  800,000  valiant  men  that  drew  the  sword,"  and  the  tribe  of 
Judah,  500,000.  Levi  and  Benjamin  Avere  not  numbered,  "  for 
the  king's  command  was  abominable  in  Joab's  eyes,"  and  the 
numbering  was  stayed  by  the  falling  of  God's  wrath.  Includ- 
ing Benjamin,  with  Judah  and  Levi,  (for,  without  doubt,  the 
major  part  of  this  tribe  continued  with  the  house  of  David,) 
the  population  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah  would  be  much 
increased,  yet  not  so  much  as  to  bring  the  two  kingdoms  upon 
a  perfect  equality  in  population. 

The  kingdom  of  Israel  lasted  254  years,  and  was  ruled  over 
by  ninete'en  kings,  from  Jeroboam  the  first,  to  Hoshea  the 
last,  in  nine  distinct  dynasties,  or  houses,  as  follows :  1.  Jero- 
boam ;  2.  Baasha  ;  3.  Zimri ;  4.  Omri ;  5.  Jehu  ;  6.  Shallum  ; 
7.  Menahem  ;  8.  Pekah,  and  9.  Hoshea. 

The  personal  and  official  character  and  history  of  these 
nineteen  kings  is  a  sad  one.  Seven  were  murdered  by  conspir- 
ators, namely,  N'adab,  Elah,  Jehoram,  Zachariah,  Shallum, 
Pekahiah,  and  Pekah ;  and  each  of  these  murderers  extinguished 
a  royal  house,  and  made  way  for  another  in  his  own  person,  so 
that  seven  kings,  the  first  that  ruled  in  their  own  houses,  were 
themselves  regicides.  One  king,  Zimri,  after  a  brief  reign,  to 
avoid  falling  into  the  hands  of  his  competitor  for  the  throne, 
burnt  himself  up  in  the  king's  palace.  Another,  Aliab,  died 
ingloriously  in  battle,  "  and  whose  blood  the  dogs  licked." 
Another,  Ahaziah,  died  in  consequence  of  a  fall  through  a 
lattice  in  his  house  ;  and  the  last  king,  Hoshea,  was  dethroned 
and  carried  a  captive  into  Assyria.  Eight  only  died  quietly  in 
their  beds,  namely,  Jeroboam,  Baasha,  Omri,  Jehu,  Jehoahaz, 
Jeroboam  II.,  and  Menahem.  Of  the  entire  nineteen  there 
was  not  one  a  pious  man  !  All  wci'c  idolaters,  and  some  of 
them  exceedingly  wicked,  "  M-alking  in  the  ways  of  Jeroboam, 
the  son  of  ISTebat,  who  made  Israel  to  sin."  Two  interregnums 
occurred,  the  first,  between  the  death  of  Jeroboam  II.,  in  the 
sixteenth  year  of  Amaziah,  king  of  Judah  (2  Kings  xiv.  23), 
and  the  accession  of  his  son  Zechariah,  in  the  thirty-eighth  year 


452  THE    niSTOEY   OF   THE   CHUKCH    OF   GOD. 

of  Uzziali  (2  Kings  xv.  8) — a  period  of  twenty-two  years  ;  the 
second,  between  the  slaying  of  Pekah  by  Hoshea  (in  the  third 
year  of  the  reign  of  Ahaz,  king  of  Judah),  and  his  accession  to 
the  throne  in  the  twelfth  year  of  Ahaz — a  period  of  ten  years, 
2  Kings  XV.  30  ;  xvi.  1 ;  xvii.  1 ;  xviii.  10. 

The  kingdom  was  scourged  with  wars.  It  was  always  in  a 
state  of  hostility,  and  often  of  open  war  with  Judah,  from  the 
reign  of  Jeroboam  to  that  of  Ahaz,  some  sixty  years.  The 
peace  then  effected  by  the  wise  and  pious  Jehoshaphat,  king 
of  Judah,  lasted  eighty  years.  War  succeeded  for  several  years, 
and  that  was  followed  by  peace  for  some  seventy  or  eighty. 
Perhaps  the  time  of  hostility  and  war  during  the  contemporary 
existence  of  the  two  kingdoms,  was  one  third  of  the  whole. 
Their  wars  generally  never  raged  cruelly,  while  their  successes 
were  pretty  evenly  balanced.  Pekah,  the  last  king  of  Israel 
but  one,  inflicted  the  heaviest  blows  upon  Judah,  and  did  an 
unprecedented  act.  He  slew  120,000  men  in  one  day,  and 
"  carried  away  captive  of  their  brethren  200,000  women,  sons, 
and  daughters,  and  much  spoil."  The  Lord,  by  the  prophet 
Oded,  commanded  the  captives  to  be  restored,  which  was 
immediately  done,  2  Chron.  xxviii.  4-19. 

But  the  dreadful  enemies  and  scourges  of  Israel  were  the 
Syrians,  and  Assyrians.  Tiglath-pileser,  king  of  Assyria,  in 
the  reign  of  Pekah,  B.  C.  740,  subdued  and  carried  into 
captivity  the  two  tribes,  Keuben  and  Gad,  the  half  tribe  of 
Manasseh  east  of  Jordan,  E"aplitali  and  portions  of  Galilee  on 
the  west,  1  Kings  xv.  20  ;  1  Chron..  v  ;  2  Kings  xv.  The  re- 
maining tribes  in  the  reign  of  Hoshea,  B.  C.  721,  were  carried 
away  captive  by  Shalmaneser,  who  settled  them  in  the  same 
countries  whither  Tiglath-pileser  had  previously  transplanted 
the  two  tribes  and  half  tribe.  Ten  tribes  were  thus  all  brought 
together  in  the  land  of  their  captivity,  1  Chron.  v.  26,  their 
captivity  being  a  punishment  from  God,  "  because  they  obeved 
not  the  voice  of  the  Lord  their  God,  but  transgressed  His 
covenant,  and  all  that  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  com- 
manded, and  would  not  hear  tnem  nor  do  them,"  2  Kings  xvii., 
xviii. 

Touching  the  state  of  religion  in  the  kingdom  while  it 


CONDUCT   OF   JEEOBOAil.  453 

lasted,  it  must  be  observed  that  Jeroboam  laid  the  foundation 
for  tlie  almost  universal  apostasy  of  ten  tribes.  Unmindful  of 
his  obligations  to  God,  who  had  elevated  him  to  the  throne, 
and  condescended  to  make  him  the  most  encouraging  and 
liappy  promises,  he  rejected  His  authority  and  despised  His 
glory,  renounced  His  protection,  and  essayed  to  establish  his 
kingdom  and  perpetuate  his  dynasty  by  his  own  wisdom  and 
power. 

Fearing  that  the  union  and  the  communion  of  Israel  with 
Judah — in  the  worship  of  the  one  God  and  Saviour  of  all  His 
chosen  people,  in  the  one  sacred  city,  the  capital  of  Judah,  in 
the  one  holy  temj)le,  under  the  one  consecrated  ministry,  and 
in  all  the  ordained  sacrifices  and  festivals — would  alienate  his 
subjects,  and  draw  them  back  to  the  throne  of  David,  Jero- 
boam with  subtle  policy  and  unwavering  decision,  at  a  stroke 
made  his  kingdom  as  independent  of  Judah  religiously  as  it 
was  civilly  ;  and  such  was  the  enfeebled  tone  of  piety  among 
the  people  that  he  succeeded.  Once  torn  away  from  the  sanc- 
tuary of  God,  separated  from  its  ordinances,  deprived  of  a 
regular  and  diAonely  ordained  ministry,  carried  over  to  open 
idolatry  and  the  adoption  of  a  religious  service  the  mere  shadow 
of  the  true,  the  delusion  became  general,  and  waxed  worse  and 
worse  in  the  revolution  of  years.  The  spiritual  ruin  of  Israel 
is  traced  to  this  one  man,  to  "  Jeroboam  the  son  of  Kebat,  who 
made  Israel  to  sin." 

"  And  Jeroboam  said  in  his  heart,  IS'ow  shall  the  kingdom 
return  to  the  house  of  David  ;  if  this  people  go  up  to  do  sacri- 
fice in  the  house  of  the  Lord  at  Jerusalem,  then  shall  the  heart 
of  this  people  turn  again  unto  their  lord,  even  unto  Eeho- 
boam,  king  of  Judah  ;  and  they  shall  kill  me  and  go  again  to 
Eehoboam,  king  of  Judah.  Whereupon  the  king  took  counsel 
and  made  two  calves  of  gold,  and  said  unto  them.  It  is  too 
much  for  you  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem  :  behold,  thy  gods,  O 
Israel,  \vhich  brought  thee  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.  And 
he  set  the  one  in  Bethel  and  the  other  put  he  in  Dan  " — in  the 
extremes  of  his  kingdom— for  the  better  accommodation  of  the 
people,  1  Kings  xii.  25-33.  lie  had  lived  in  Egypt  between 
the  time  of  his  persecution  by  Solomon,  and  his  being  called  to 


454  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

the  throne  of  Israel  at  Solomon's  death.  Here  it  is  most 
probable  he  became  interested  in  the  worship  of  a  supreme 
being  under  the  image  of  a  calf,  and  he  might  have  had  in 
remembrance  also  the  golden  calf  made  by  Aaron.  It  was  no 
new  God  that  he  intended  to  introduce,  but  the  worship  of  the 
God  of  Israel  imder  the  image  of  a  calf! 

Setting  up  his  gods,  he  proceeded  to  frame  his  service.  He 
must  needs  have  a  holy  place;  hence  "  he  made  an  house  of 
high  places."  He  must  needs  have  priests  ;  hence  "  he  made 
priests  of  the  lowest  (or  the  mass)  of  the  people  which  were 
not  of  the  sons  of  Levi ; "  "  for  Jeroboam  and  his  sons  had  cast 
them  off  from  executing  the  priests'  ofiSce  unto  the  Lord  :  and 
he  ordained  him  priests  for  the  high  places,  and  for  the  devils, 
and  for  the  calves  which  he  had  made,  2  Chron.  xi.  14-15. 
He  must  needs  have  sacred  seasons  and  festivals  ;  hence  "  he 
ordained  a  feast  in  the  eighth  month,  like  unto  the  feast  that  is 
in  Judah,  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  month,  which  he  had  devised 
of  his  own  heart,  unto  the  children  of  Israel."  He  must  needs 
have  altars  and  sacrifices ;  and  so  he  built  altars  and  sacrificed 
upon  them.  Thus  "  Jeroboam  sinned :  and  he  made  Israel 
sin  by  his  provocation  wherewith  he  provoked  the  Lord  God 
of  Israel  to  anger,"  1  Kings  xv.  30.  Yea,  he  "  drave  Israel  from 
following  the  Lord,  and  made  them  sin  a  great  sin,"  2  Kings 
xvii.  21. 

Of  every  individual  king  that  occupied  the  throne  after 
him,  with  but  one  exception — and  that  was  Shallum,  who 
reigned  but  one  month — it  is  said,  "And  he  did  that  which  was 
evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord :  he  departed  not  from  the  sins  of 
Jeroboam,  the  son  of  Kebat,  who  made  Israel  to  sin."  Finally, 
the  captivity  is  ascribed  to  him,  for  he  "  drave  Israel  from 
following  the  Lord,  and  made  them  sin  a  great  sin  ;  for  the 
children  of  Israel  walked  in  all  the  sins  of  Jeroboam  which  he 
did  :  they  departed  not  from  them,  until  the  Lord  removed 
Israel  out  of  His  sight,  as  He  had  said  by  all  His  servants  the 
prophets,"  2  Kings  xvii.  20-23  ;  1  Kings  xiv.  7-16. 

The  corruption  of  the  true  religion,  and  the  idolatry  intro- 
duced by  Jeroboam,  were  enormous  sins  ;  but  to  add  thereto 
and  to  precipitate  the  people  into  deeper  transgressions,  pre- 


CORRUPTION   OF   TRUE   RELIGION,  455 

paring  them  more  fully  for  divine  judgments,  Ahab  became 
king  about  twenty-one  years  after  Jeroboam's  death.  "  And 
he  did  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  above  all  that  were  before 
him."  "  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  if  it  had  been  a  light  thing  for 
liim  to  walk  in  the  sins  of  Jeroboam,  the  son  of  Nebat,  that  he 
took  to  wife  Jezebel,  the  daughter  of  Ethbaal,  king  of  the 
Zidonians,  and  went  and  served  Baal  and  worshipped  him. 
And  he  reared  up  an  altar  for  Baal  in  the  house  of  Baal,  which 
he  had  built  in  Samaria.  And  Ahab  made  a  grove,  and  Ahab 
did  more  to  provoke  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  to  anger  than  all 
the  kings  of  Israel  that  were  before  him,"  1  Kings  xvi.  28-33, 
Although  on  one  occasion,  by  the  energy  of  Elijah  the  Prophet, 
and  of  Jehu  the  king,  tlie  worship  of  Baal  was  almost  over- 
thrown, it  was  never  wholly  rooted  out,  2  Kings  xiii.  G,  It 
was  attended  with  cruel  rites,  the  use  of  divination  and 
enchantments,  and  the  worship  of  all  the  hosts  of  heaven,  and 
a  walking  after  the  heathen  round  about !  2  Kings  xvii.  13-23. 

What  contributed  to  the  decline  of  religion  in  Israel,  was 
the  departure  out  of  the  kingdom  of  the  priests  and  Levites, 
the  ministers  and  public  instructors  of  the  people  in  the  law 
and  ordinances  of  God.  Unsupported  by  the  regular  and 
ordained  contributions  of  the  jieople,  thrust  out  by  Jeroboam 
and  his  sons,  and  not  permitted  to  share  in  his  new  arrange- 
ments for  worship,  they  left  their  cities  and  retired  into  the 
kingdom  of  Judah,  Abijah  reproached  Jeroboam  with  tliis 
infidel  conduct,  2  Chron.  xiii.  1-12  ;  and  this  exodus  of  the 
ministers  of  God  was  not  without  its  eflfect  upon  many  of  the 
more  pious  in  Israel :  for  "  after  them,  out  of  all  the  tribes  of 
Israel,  such  as  set  their  hearts  to  seek  the  Lord  God  of  Israel, 
came  to  Jerusalem  to  sacrifice  unto  the  Lord  God  of  their 
fathers,"  2  Chron.  xi.  13-17.  The  kingdom  of  Judah  was 
strengthened  spiritually,  and  the  kingdom  of  Israel  weakened. 
The  pious  ministers  and  people  forsook  their  homes  and  con- 
nections, and  a  land  polluted  by  idolatry,  to  take  shelter  with 
their  brethren  under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty. 

The  fallen  state  of  religion  in  the  ten  tribes  impressed  their 
brethren  of  Judah,  whenever  they  enjoyed  the  outpourings  of 
the  Spirit  of  God ;  for  in  the  reign  of  the  pious  Asa,  when  he 


456  THE   HISTORY   OF    THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

had  corrected  abuses  and  removed  idols,  "  he  gathered  all 
Judah,  and  Benjamin,  and  strangers  with  them  out  of  Ephraim, 
and  Manasseh,  and  Simeon  :  for  they  fell  to  him  out  of  Israel 
in  abundance  when  they  saw  that  the  Lord  his  God  was  with 
him,"  and  they  offered  sacrifices  and  entered  into  covenant 
with  the  Lord  their  God.  There  never  was  any  hindrance  to 
the  coming  wp  of  the  ten  tribes  to  the  courts  of  the  Lord,  and 
to  an  association  with  their  brethren  of  Judah  in  the  worship 
and  ordinances  of  His  house.  The  ways  of  Zion  were  always 
open,  and  whensoever  they  would  they  conld  come  and  were 
welcome. 

Again,  in  the  reign  of  Hezekiah,  when  the  kingdom  of 
Israel  was  on  the  verge  of  ruin,  B.  C.  726,  that  pious  king, 
desirous  of  a  return  of  both  kingdoms  with  all  their  heart  to 
the  Lord — peradventure  it  might  be  a  lengthening  out  of 
their  existence  and  tranquillity^-sent  out  posts  throughout  all 
Israel  from  Beer-sheba  even  unto  Dan  (throughout  both  king- 
doms), "  that  they  should  come  to  keep  the  passover  unto  the 
Lord  God  of  Israel  at  Jerusalem."  The  posts  carried  the  letters 
of  invitation  and  of  earnest  exhortation  from  the  king.  "  They 
passed  from  city  to  city  through  the  country  of  Ephraim  and 
Manasseh,  even  unto  Zebulon :  but  they  laughed  them  to  scorn 
and  mocked  them.  l^Tevertheless  divers  of  Asher,  and  Manas- 
seh, and  of  Zebulon,  humbled  themselves  and  came  to  Jeru- 
salem." There  were  "  many  also  of  Ephraim  and  Issachar." 
When  the  passover  was  ended,  the  congregation  present 
"  went  out,  and  brake  the  images  in  pieces,  and  cut  down  the 
groves,  and  threw  down  the  high  places  and  the  altars,  out  of 
all  Judah,  and  Benjamin,  and  Ephraim,  and  Manasseh,  until 
they  had  utterly  destroyed  them  all."  They  were  those  out  of 
Israel  who,  at  the  king's  commandment,  brought  in  contribu- 
tions to  the  service  of  the  Lord  in  Jerusalem,  and  "  the  tithe 
of  all  things,"  2  Chron.  xxx.  1-27  ;  xxxi.  1-7.  Here,  within 
four  years  of  the  iinal  captivity  of  the  ten  tribes,  is  "  a  remnant 
according  to  the  election  of  grace  "  among  them.  A  very  con- 
siderable number  from  the  five  tribes,  Asher,  Manasseh,  Zebu- 
lon, Ephraim,  and  Issachar,  came  at  the  call  of  Hezekiah,  and 
with  sincere  devotion  and  fervent  zeal  miited  in  observing  the 


THE   PROPHETS   OF   ISEAEL.  457 

passover,  in  destroying  the  worship  of  idols,  and  in  contributing 
to  the  service  of  the  sanctuary.  Fourteen  years  before  this, 
Tiglath-pileser  had  carried  away  captive  Naphtali,  Reuben, 
Gad,  and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh  ;  consequently,  five  out  of 
the  seven  and  a  half  tribes  then  remaining  in  Israel,  were 
represented  in  this  passover. 

]N^o  other  instances  are  recorded  of  the  going  up  of  the 
people  of  Israel  to  worship  in  Jerusalem.  The  more  pious  part 
remaining  in  the  kingdom  no  doubt  did  so  from  time  to  time, 
in  a  private  manner,  attended  tlie  regular  feasts,  and  went  up 
at  other  times  to  perform  vows  and  offer  sacrifices ;  but  no 
king  of  Israel  ever  visited  the  holy  city,  except  Jehoash  or 
Joash,  and  he  only  in  war,  and  as  a  conqueror ;  for  it  was  he 
who  defeated  Amariah  and  took  him  prisoner,  went  up  to 
Jerusalem,  broke  down  four  hundred  cubits  of  the  wall,  and 
plundered  the  temple  and  the  royal  palace. 

Faithful  in  his  mercy,  the  Lord  did  not  wholly  abandon  His 
chosen  people,  but  watched  over  them,  interposed  restraints, 
and  sent  His  prophets  to  instruct,  reprove,  and  reform  them. 
They  succeeded  each  other  regularly,  and  labored  with  zeal 
and  energy,  performing  astonishing  miracles  in  confirmation  of 
their  mission.  Prophets  not  only  lived  and  labored  in  the 
kingdom  of  Israel,  but  prophets  in  Judah  exerted  themselves 
also,  on  certain  occasions,  on  behalf  of  Israel.  Moreover,  there 
were  schools  of  prophets  in  Israel  under  Elijah  and  Elislia,  2 
Kings  ii.  3  ;  iv.  38,  and  the  number  of  prophets  was  by  no 
means  inconsiderable,  1  Kings  xviii.  1-4.  The  Lord  says  to 
Israel,  by  Amos,  ii.  11,  "  And  I  raised  up  of  your  sons 
prophets  :  and  of  your  young  men  for  ISTazarites."  He  "  testi- 
fied against  Israel  and  against  Judah  by  all  the  prophets,  and 
by  all  the  seers,  saying,  Turn  ye  from  your  evil  ways  and  keep 
my  commandments  and  my  statutes ;  notwithstanding  they 
would  not  hear,"  2  Kings  xvii.  1-14,  etc.  "  The  Lord  God  of 
their  fathers  sent  to  them  by  his  messengers,  rising  up  betimes 
and  sending,  because  he  had  compassion  on  his  people  and  on 
His  dwelling-place  ;  but  they  mocked  the  messengers  of  God 
and  despised  His  words,  and  misused  his  prophets  until  the 
wrath  of   God   arose  against  His  people,  till  there  was  no 


458  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH    OF   GOD. 

remedy,"  2  Chron.  xxxvi.  15-17.  Of  the  nineteen  kings,  four- 
teen had  direct  intercourse  Avith,  and  admonitions  and  warn- 
ings from  the  prophets ;  and  the  remainder,  some  of  whom 
reigned  but  for  a  brief  period,  could  not  have  been  passed  over. 
To  particularize  :  no  sooner  bad  Jeroboam  instituted  his  idola- 
trous worship,  then  tbere  came  a  man  of  God  and  reproved 
him  for  his  sins.  In  testimony  of  the  curse  of  God,  his  altar 
was  rent,  and  the  ashes  poured  out,  and  his  own  hand,  stretched 
against  the  man  of  God,  was  instantly  dried  up  stifi'  and 
useless.  Ahijah,  the  prophet,  made  known  to  him  God's  deter- 
mination to  cut  oft"  his  house  from  the  throne,  1  Kings  xiii., 
xiv.  ;  and  in  due  time  the  Lord  "  struck  him  and  he  died  :  " 
2  Chron,  xiii.  20.  His  son  ITadab  was  accordingly  cut  off  by 
Baasha,  1  Kings  xv.  Tlie  prophet  Jehu  condemned  Baasha 
and  his  house  to  overthrow  for  his  sins,  and  Elah  his  son  was 
cut  oft'  by  Zimri,  1  Kings  xvi;  1-7.  Zimri  came  to  his  death 
by  his  own  act,  which  was  the  judgment  of  God  for-his  sins,  1 
Kings  xvi.  15-22.  The  wicked  Ahab  had  the  fearless,  zealous, 
and  faithful  Elijah  for  his  prophet  all  his  days,  Micaiah,  and 
other  prophets  also,  1  Kings  xvii.-xxii.  ;  ii.  18.  His  son 
Ahaziah  had  Elijah,  and  his  son  Jehoram  had  both  Elijah  and 
Elisha.  Jehu  was  commissioned  through  Elisha  to  avenge  the 
proj)hets  and  people  of  God  both  on  Jezebel  and  the  house  of 
Ahab.  Jehu's  sons  to  the  fourth  generation,  Avere  to  sit  on  the 
throne  of  Israel.  2  Kings  x.  30.  Jehoahas,  Jehoasli,  Jero- 
boam II.,  and  Zechariah,  were  all  under  the  ministry  of  the 
prophets.  Elisha  died  in  the  reign  of  Jehoash,  2  Kings  xiii. 
10-21.  In  the  reign  of  Jeroboam  II.,  Jonah  prophesied,  2 
Kings  xiv.  25-27,  and  so  did  Hosea  and  Amos.  These  two  last 
preached  against  the  sins  of  Israel  and  Judah,  and  predicted 
the  ruin  and  captivity  of  Israel.  They  prophesied  through  the 
reigns  of  Shallum,  Menahem,  Pekahiah,  and  Pekah.  In  the 
reign  of  Pekah,  Micali  joined  them,  and  Isaiah,  Oded,  and 
Obadiah.  In  the  last  reign,  that  of  Hoshea,  they  are  all  con- 
tinued with  the  addition  of  E"ahum.  These  were  all  "  holy 
men  of  God  who  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  "  and  it  is  in  their  writings  that  we  learn  the  wide- 
spread and  deep  corruption  of  the  people,  calling  for  the  judg- 


AN   ATONING   EEDEEMEK   PREACHED,  459 

ments  of  God.  In  their  writings  we  behold  His  long-sufiering 
and  tender  mercy,  and  listen  to  His  moving  appeals  and  calls 
to  repentance,  and  promises  of  forgiveness  and  life.  They  are 
the  great  preachers  of  the  Church  in  those  days,  preaching  by 
example,  by  lifting  np  their  voices  like  a  trumpet,  and  by 
their  discourses  and  prophecies  committed  to  writing,  circulated 
and  laid  up  for  memorials  before  God  and  His  people.  They 
stood  before  kings  and  princes  as  well  as  before  the  common 
people,  and  failed  not  to  declare  the  whole  counsel  of  God 
with  threatening  and  promise.  Condemning  transgressors 
under  the  law  to  the  wrath  of  God,  they  preached  unto  them  a 
suffering,  an  atoning  and  triumphant  Kedeemer,  shadowed  in 
every  sacrifice.  They  sketched  Him  with  a  bold  hand  as 
Prophet,  Priest,  and  King.  "  They  saw  His  glory  and  spake 
of  Him,"  Isa.  vi,  1-3  ;  John  xii.  41 ;  for  "  to  Him  gave  all  tlie 
prophets  witness,  that  through  His  name,  whosoever  believeth 
in  Him  shall  receive  remission  of  sins,"  Acts  x.  43.  They 
dealt  with  Israel  and  Judah  as  divided  temporarily  and  civilly, 
but  forming  one  kingdom  spiritually — the  one  Church  of  God 
under  its  Divine  Head — having  its  better,  its  heavenly  country, 
whither  all  its  true  pilgrims  were  tending.  Their  mission  was 
confirmed  by  the  signs  of  a  prophet,  for  their  predictions  came 
to  pass.  They  upheld  the  true  doctrines  and  wrought  the 
miracles  of  God. 

Miracles  were  again  revived,  especially  in  the  kingdom  of 
Israel,  to  arrest  the  apostasy,  and  incline  the  people  to  adhere 
to  God,  in  the  absence  of  His  priests  and  temple  worship,  ex- 
posed as  they  were  to  the  influence  of  wickedness  in  high 
places,  and  to  all  the  corruptions  of  idolatry.  Jonah  was  three" 
days  and  nights  in  the  belly  of  the  fish,  and  this  was  a  sign  of 
his  mission,  not  only  to  the  Ninevites,  but  also  to  Israel.  The 
repentance  of  the  men  of  Nineveh  under  his  preaching  con- 
demned the  impenitence  of  his  own  countrymen  in  Israel, 
Elijah  and  Eiisha,  whose  united  ministry  extends  over  eighty 
years,  are  the  two  prophets  who  wrought  miracles  in  the 
greatest  abundance,  and  of  the  most  wonderful  kind,  Elijah 
was  fed  by  ravens  ;  he  multiplied  the  widow's  meal  and  oil, 
and  afterwards  raised  her  son  to  life :    he  called  fire  from 


460  THE    niSTOKY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OP    GOD. 

heaven  to  consume  the  sacrifice  on  Mount  Carmel ;  outran 
Ahab  in  his  chariot,  driving  rapidly  to  Jezreel ;  fasted  forty 
days  and  forty  nights ;  drew  down  fire  twice  from  heaven  and 
consumed  the  companies  sent  by  king  Ahaziah  to  apprehend 
him  ;  divided  Jordan  with  his  mantle,  and  ascended  to  heaven 
in  a  chariot  of  fire !  Elisha  healed  the  waters  of  Jericho  ; 
multiplied  the  widow's  oil  for  the  redemption  of  her  sons ; 
raised  the  Shunammite's  son  to  life ;  healed  the  deadly  pottage ; 
fed  a  hundred  men  with  twenty  loaves  of  barley ;  cured 
ITaaman  of  his  leprosy ;  smote  Gehazi  his  servant  with  the 
same  ;  made  iron  to  swim  ;  revealed  the  counsels  of  the  king 
of  Syria ;  smote  with  blindness  his  forces  sent  to  apprehend 
him,  and  restored  their  sight  again  ;  and  his  bones  revived  a 
dead  man  let  down  into  his  sepulchre  ! 

Judgments  accompanied  the  ministry  of  the  word  in  Israel ; 
for  the  Lord  brought  upon  the  kingdom  a  drought,  at  the  prayer 
of  Elijah,  for  three  years  and  a  half,  followed  by  famine,  1  Ki. 
xvii. ;  and  in  the  days  of  Elisha,  another  famine  of  seven  years' 
duration.  Amos  predicted  drought  and  famine,  blasting  and 
mildew,  and  earthquake,  Amos  i.  1 ;  iv.  1-13.  The  judgments 
of  grasshoppers  and  of  fire  were  stayed  at  his  prayer,  vii.  1-9  ; 
and  yet  above  these  he  predicted  a  fiimine  of  the  Word  of  God, 
i.  1 ;  iv.  1-13  ;  vii.  1-9  ;  viii.  11-14.  The  Lord  added  fre- 
quent civil  and  foreign  wars,  and  the  rebellion  of  tributar}'- 
states,  2  Ki.  vi.-xiii. ;  Amos  ii.-iii.,  and  destroyed  the  kings 
one  after  another — some  by  surprising  judgments,  1  Ki,  xxi ; 
2  Ki.  i.,  ix.-x.,  etc. ;  Amos  vii.  10,  etc.  Twice  He  signally 
overthrew  the  worshippers  of  Baal,  both  priests  and  people, 
•and  the  king  and  queen,  who  above  all  had  consecrated  them- 
selves to  idolatry,  1  Ki.  xviii.  ;  2  Ki.  x.  ;  and  held  in  terror 
over  the  jDeople  the  threatened  captivity  under  the  heathen. 
Yet  with  all  His  threatenings  and  judgments.  He  mingled 
precious  promises  and  tender  mercies,  giving  rain  and  fruitful 
seasons,  checking  the  advance  of  enemies,  restoring  boundaries 
and  cities,  and  strengthening  Israel,  2  Ki.  xiv.  25-27 ;  xiii.  1- 
5  ;  iii.,  vi.,  vii.;  1  Ki.  xx.,  etc.  All  these  means  failed  to  accom- 
plish a  redemption  of  the  kingdom  from  overthrow,  yet  were  they 
sanctified  to  "  a  remnant  acording  to  the  election  of  grace." 


TUK   CLOSING   CHAPTEES   OF    HOSEA.  461 

For  some  seventy  years  after  the  division  of  the  kingdoms, 
Elijah  besought  the  Lord  that  he  might  die.  Said  he,  "  I  have 
been  very  jealous  for  the  Lord  God  of  Hosts  ;  for  the  children 
of  Israel  have  forsaken  thy  covenant,  thrown  down  thine  altars, 
and  slain  thy  prophets  with  the  sword  ;  and  I,  even  I  only, 
am  left,  and  they  seek  my  life  to  take  it  away."  To  the  eye 
of  the  prophet  the  cause  of  God  was  ruined.  He  knew  not  if 
any  held  fast  their  integrity.  The  merciful  and  omniscient 
God  said,  "  Go — return  "  (to  your  labors).  "  I  have  left  me 
seven  thousand  in  Israel,  all  the  knees  which  have  not  bowed 
to  Baal,  and  every  mouth  which  hath  not  kissed  him,"  1  Ki. 
xix.  They  were  sustained  and  strengthened  by  the  ministry 
of  Elijah  and  Elisha,  and  at  least  a  temporary  return  of  the 
kingdom  to  the  Lord  took  place,  when  Elijah  first,  and  Jehu 
afterwards  destroyed  the  priests  and  worshippers  of  Baal  in 
such  numbers.  In  the  reign  of  Asa,  king  of  Judah,  many  of 
Israel  turned  to  the  Lord  ;  and  at  the  very  close  of  the  king- 
dom, as  already  noted,  numbers  went  up  and  united  with 
Hezekiah  at  Jerusalem  in  celebrating  the  passover,  over  one 
hundred  years  after  the  death  of  Elisha  (B.  C.  838  ;  captivity, 
B.  C.  Y20). 

The  closing  chapters  of  Hosea  (vii.-xiv.)  are  full  of  exhibi- 
tions of  the  sins  of  the  people,  of  appeals  for  repentance,  and 
of  threatenings  of  the  captivity.  They  were  the  last  strivings 
of  God.  "  The  days  of  visitation  are  come  :  the  days  of  rec- 
ompense are  come.  Israel  shall  know  it."  "  How  shall  I  give 
thee  up,  Ephraim  ?  How  shall  I  deliver  thee,  Israel  ?  How 
shall  I  make  thee  as  Admah  ?  How  shall  I  set  thee  as  Ze- 
boim  ?  My  heart  is  turned  within  me  :  my  repentings  are 
kindled  together."  "When  the  inspired  historian  reaches  the 
captivity,  the  Holy  Spirit  makes  him  write  down  the  cause, 
even  the  great,  aggravated,  and  long-continued  sins  of  the 
people,  as  if  the  Shepherd  of  Israel  would  plead  His  own 
justification  for  so  terrible  an  infliction.  "  There  was  no 
remedy,"  2  Ki.  xviii.  9-12  ;  xvii.  1-23.  In  His  last  exhorta- 
tion, just  before  the  event.  He  throws  in  the  sustaining 
promise  that  Israel  in  her  captivity  should  rejDcnt ;  that  He 
would  heal  her  backslidino-s,  and  restore  her  in  due  time  to 


462  THE   HISTOET   OF  THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

His  favor  and  to  her  pleasant  land,  Hos.  xiii.  15-16  ;  xiv.  1-0 
— a  promise  wliicli  the  prophet  commends  to  the  people ; 
"  who  is  wise,  and  he  shall  understand  these  things  ?  Pru- 
dent, and  he  shall  know  them  ?  For  the  ways  of  the  Lord  are 
right,  and  the  just  shall  walk  in  them  :  but  the  transgressors 
shall  fall  therein."  They  carried  this  promise  into  their  dreary 
captivity,  and  the  wise  and  the  prudent  understood  and  fed 
upon  it,  until  it  was  accomplished  !  More  than  one-half  the 
members  of  the  visible  Church  were  borne  away,  and  Judah 
left  alone. 

The  ten  tribes  remained  under  the  Assyrians  until  they 
were  conquered  by  the  Babylonians  ;  and,  in  the  reign  of 
Nebuchadnezzar,  their  brethren  of  Judah  were  brought  and 
united  in  captivity  with  them. 

Of  the  civil  and  religious  condition  of  the  ten  tribes  for  one 
hundred  and  thirty-three  years — from  their  captivity,  B,  C. 
720,  to  the  final  captivity  of  Judah,  B.  C.  587 — there  is  not  the 
slightest  record  in  the  Word  of  God.  The  apocryphal  book 
of  Tobit,  who  was  one  of  the  captains  of  Israel,  furnishes  little. 
We  here  take  leave  of  them,  settled  in  the  dark  regions  of  hea- 
thenism, and  under  the  afflicting  but  preserving  hand  of  a 
faithful,  covenant-keeping  God.  He  has  promised,  and  He 
will  make  it  good.  "  They  that  dwell  under  His  shadow  shall 
return :  they  shall  revive  as  the  corn  and  grow  as  the  vine. 
The  scent  thereof  shall  be  as  the  wine  of  Lebanon.  Ephraim 
shall  say  what  have  I  to  do  any  more  with  idols  ? "  Hos. 
xiv.  4-8. 

The  land  of  Israel  was  not  left  to  desolation.  The  king  of 
Assyria  brought  from  difl'erent  tribes  and  provinces  of  his  em- 
pire, men,  women,  and  children,  settling  them  in  Samaria, 
and  in  the  cities  of  Israel,  to  secure  the  conquered  kingdom, 
while  he  strengthened  and  enriched  the  heart  of  his  empire  by 
the  bringing  in  of  the  Israelites.  With  this  colony  of  Assyri- 
ans the  poor,  feeble,  and  scattered  remnant  of  Israelites  left 
behind  united,  and  the  land  of  Israel  became  a  province  of 
Assyria,  "  beyond  the  river." 

The  heathen  were  not  suffered  to  pollute  the  land  with  im- 
punity.    "  They  feared  not  the  Lord,  therefore  the  Lord  sent 


JOSIAh's   invasion  of  ISRAEL.  463 

lions  among  them  wliicli  slew  some  of  them."  The  presence 
and  the  manner  of  the  preying  of  these  terrible  beasts,  con- 
vinced them  that  there  was  something  supernatural  in  the 
visitation,  and  they  ascribed  it  to  the  God  of  Israel.  In  their 
complaint  to  the  king  of  Assyria  they  confessed  that  "  they 
knew  not  the  maimer  of  the  God  of  the  land,"  nor  how  He 
should  be  propitiated.  The  king  sent  them  (as  we  suppose) 
a  priest  of  the  corrupted  order  ordained  by  Jeroboam  to  min- 
ister before  the  calves  in  Bethel  and  in  Dan,  who  had  fixed  his 
residence  in  Bethel,  one  of  the  chief  seats  of  Jeroboam's  idol- 
atry, "  and  taught  them  how  they  should  fear  the  Lord."  How- 
beit,  the  Assyrians  did  not  abandon  their  own  gods,  but  made 
and  set  them  in  the  high  places  before  used  by  tlie  Israelites, 
and  associated  the  worship  of  the  God  of  the  land — the  true 
God — with  the  worship  of  tlieir  own  idols.  "  So  "  (in  this 
manner)  "  they  feared  the  Lord,  and  made  unto  themselves  of 
the  lowest  of  them  priests  of  the  high  places,  which  sacrificed 
for  them  in  the  houses  of  the  high  places.  They  feared  the 
Lord  and  served  their  own  gods  after  the  manner  of  the  nations 
whom  they  carried  away  from  thence."  That  is  to  say,  they 
imitated  the  conduct  of  the  Israelites  whom  they  had  led  away 
captive,  who  had  mingled  the  worship  of  idols  with  the  wor- 
ship of  the  true  God,  2  Ki.  xvii.  24-41.  The  next  notice  of 
this  mongrel  race,  is  of  the  breaking  down  of  some  of  their 
high  places  and  images  by  the  pious  and  zealous  Josiah,  king 
of  Judah,  who  essayed  to  carry  his  reform  throughout  their 
territories.  "  The  altar  that  was  at  Bethel,  and  the  high  place 
which  Jeroboam,  tlie  son  of  Nebat,  who  made  Israel  to  sin, 
had  made,  both  that  altar  and  the  high  place,  he  breaked 
down,  and  burned  the  high  place,"  "  and  sent  and  took  the 
bones  out  of  the  sepulchres,  and  burned  them  upon  the  altar, 
and  polluted  it,  according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord,  which  the 
man  of  God  proclaimed,  who  proclaimed  these  words,"  1  Ki. 
xiii.  1-6  :  "  And  all  the  houses  also  of  the  high  places  that 
were  in  the  cities  of  Samaria,  which  the  kings  of  Israel  had 
made  to  provoke  the  Lord  to  anger,"  namely,  "  in  the  cities  of 
Manasseh,  Ephraim,  and  Simeon,  even  unto  Kaphtali,"  2 
Chron.  xxxiv.  1-8.    Josiah  took  away  and  did  to  them  accord- 


464  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

ing  to  all  the  acts  tliat  he  had  done  in  Bethel.  He  slew  all 
the  priest's  of  the  high  places  that  were  there  upon  the  altars, 
and  burned  men's  bones  uj^on  them,"  "  cut  down  all  the  idols, 
throughout  all  the  land  of  Israel,"  "  and  returned  to  Jeru- 
salem," 2  Ki.  xxiii.  1-20.  This  zealous  invasion  of  the  terri- 
tories of  Israel,  for  the  purpose  of  suppressing  idolatry,  and 
once  more  establishing  the  true  worship  of  God,  took  place 
Bi  C.  628,  ninety-three  years  after  the  captivity  of  tlie  ten 
tribes.  The  people  inhabiting  the  country,  (now  for  the  first 
time  designated  Samaria,  from  the  chief  city,  built  by  Omri, 
and  called  after  the  name  of  the  former  owner  of  the  hill,  1 
Ki.  xvi.  24,)  made  no  resistance — no  blood  being  shed  but  that 
of  the  idolatrous  priests,  and  that  was  shed  according  to  the 
law  of  God.  To  what  extent,  and  for  how  long  a  time  the 
'  zeal  of  Josiah  was  successful  in  suppressing  idolatry  in  the 
colony,  is  not  of  record.  It  is  however  moi-e  than  intimated 
that  persons  were  present  out  of  Israel  at  Jerusalem  when 
Josiah,  in  a  regularly  called  and  public  assembly,  renewed  the 
covenant  with  God,  2  Chron.  xxxiv.  29-33  :  and  such  were 
present  also  at  the  celebration  of  the  passover  not  long  after, 
2  Chron.  xxxv.  1-18,  for  the  pious  king  gathered  the  people 
of  God  on  this  occasion  from  both  Israel  and  Judah. 

A  further  notice  of  the  Samaritans  dates  ninety-two  years 
from  this  time,  namely,  in  the  year  B.  C.  536,  when,  under 
the  decree  of  Cyrus,  Ezra  with  his  countrymen  returned  from 
the  seventy  years'  captivity,  took  possession  of  the  land  of 
Judah,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  the  second  temple.  The 
Samaritans  made  a  formal  application  "  to  Zerubbabel  and  to 
the  chief  of  the  fathers  "  to  unite  with  them  in  building  the 
temple  on  the  ground  of  a  common  religion  :  "  Let  us  build 
with  you  :  for  we  seek  your  God,  as  ye  do  :  and  we  do  sacrifice 
unto  Him  since  the  days  of  Esar-haddon,  king  of  Asslmr,  who 
brought  us  up  hither."  "  What  concord  hath  Christ  with 
Belial  ?  What  part  hath  he  that  believeth  with  an  infidel  ?  " 
2  Cor.  vi.  15.  An  alliance  could  not  be  tolerated  of  the  wor- 
shippers of  the  true  God  with  the  worshippers  of  idols,  and 
their  application  was  promptly  repelled.  "  Ye  have  nothing 
to  do  with  us  to  build  an  house  unto  our  God  :    but  we  our- 


THE   COMMISSION    OF   NEHEMIAH.  465 

selves  together  will  build  unto  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  as 
Cyrus  the  king  of  Persia  hath  commanded  ns."  They  then 
became  "  adversaries  "  of  "  tlie  children  of  the  captivity,"  and, 
by  representations  to  the  king  of  Persia,  succeeded  in  putting 
a  stop  to  the  building  of  the  temple  for  fourteen  years. — until 
the  second  3'ear  of  the  reign  of  Darius,  king  of  Persia,  (from 
B.  C.  534  to  B.  C.  520,)  when  the  Israelites  were  stirred  up  by 
the  prophets  Ilaggai  and  Zechariah  to  resume  the  work. 
"  Tatnai,  governor  on  this  side  the  river,"  and  his  companions, 
attempted  to  interrupt  it  again,  but  without  success  ;  for  the 
work  went  on  until  a  decree  came  from  Darius,  in  reply  to  the 
letter  of  Tatnai,  reaffirming  the  decree  of  Cyrus,  and  command- 
ing him  and  his  associates  to  assist  the  Jews,  and  to  contribute 
out  of  the  king's  revenue  "  beyond  the  river"  towards  the  ex- 
penses of  the  building,  and  also  animals  for  the  sacrifices,  and 
wheat,  salt,  wine,  and  oil,  day  by  day,  Ezra  iii.  8-13  ;  iv.  1-5 ; 
V,  1-17;  vi.  1-13.  So  the  children  of  Israel  built,  finished, 
and  dedicated  the  second  temple,  B.  C.  516,  Ezra  vi,  1-^-22. 

Seventy-one  years  after  the  dedication  of  the  second  tem- 
ple, B.  C,  445,  ISTehemiah  receiv-ed  his  commission  from  Ar- 
taxerxes  to  visit  Jerusalem  and  to  build  the  wall.  The 
Samaritans,  for  the  third  time,  opposed  the  Jews,  and  united 
with  themselves  the  Arabians,  Ammonites,  and  Ashdodites, 
who  dwelt  with  them.  Sanballat  was  wroth  and  stirred  up 
his  brethren  and  the  army  of  the  Samaritans,  but  all  in  vain  ; 
for  the  wise,  energetic,  believing,  and  courageous  Nehemiah 
"  finished  the  wall,"  f^nd  "  the  heathen  round  about  were 
much  cast  down  in  their  own  eyes,"  jSTeh.  i.-vi.,  B.  C.  445. 
When  Nehemiah,  B.  C.  428,  seventeen  years  after,  in  his 
reformation  of  abuses,  caused  the  people  to  put  away  their 
heathen  wives,  the  zealous  reformer  spared  none  of  the  trans- 
gressors, whatever  their  station  might  be,  for  one  of  the  sons 
of  Joiada,  the  son  of  Eliashib,  the  high-priest,  was  son-in-law  to 
Sanballat  the  Iloronite.  This  transgressor,  himself  allied  to 
the  highest  families,  and  even  of  the  priesthood,  Nehemiah 
"  chased  from  him,"  Josephus  says  his  name  was  Manasseh, 
and  he  officiated  as  priest  in  the  temple  afterwards  built  on 
Mount  Gerizim.  The  Israelites  would  form  no  matrimonial 
30 


4:6Q  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

alliances  with  the  Samaritans,  but  treated  them  as  they  did 
the  heathen,  Neh.  xiii.  23-31. 

The  Samaritans  continued  to  occupy  a  portion  of  the  king- 
dom of  Israel  during  the  long  subjection  of  the  Church  to  for- 
eign powers,  they  themselves  being  alike  subject  to  the  same 
powers,  namely,  to  the  Medo-Persians,  (to  332  B.  C.,)  to  the 
Macedo-Grecians,  (to  301  B.  C.,)  to  the  Egyptians,  (to  180 
B.  C.,)  and  to  the  Syrians  (to  143  B.  C).  The  Asmonean 
princes  revolted  from  Syria,  achieved  the  independence  of 
their  nation,  and  fought  against  the  Samaritans  as  against  the 
common  enemy.  John  Ilyrcanus  (B.  C.  109)  besieged  and 
took  the  city  of  Samaria  and  razed  it  to  its  foundations. 
Pompey  the  Great  in  his  eastern  wars  annexed  Palestine  to  the 
Eoman  empire,  B.  C.  63,  and  Gabianus,  proconsul  of  Syria, 
rebuilt  Samaria  about  forty-eight  years  after  its  destruction  by 
Ilyrcanus.  The  emperor  Augustus  bestowed  Samaria  upon 
Herod  the  Great,  who  in  tnrn  rebuilt  the  city  with  great  mag- 
nificence, (attested  by  its  present  ruins,)  and  called  it  Sebaste, 
in  honor  of  Augustus.  "  Josephus  Antiq.,"  chs.  xiii.  to  xv. ; 
and  ''  De  Bello,"  chs.  i.  and  xv. 

The  Samaritans  occupied  their  district,  and  Sebaste  was  the 
capital  when  our  Lord  appeared,  and  they  shared  in  the  bless- 
ings of  His  personal  ministry,  and  that-  of  His  Apostles.  But 
they  and  the  Jews  were  still  irreconcilable  enemies  :  "  The 
Jews  had  no  dealings  with  the  Samaritans."  It  was  the  bitter 
and  contemptuous  curse  of  a  Jew  to  call  a  man  a  Samaritan, 
and  so  was  our  Lord  reviled,  John  iii.  48.  The  religion  which 
they  professed  in  His  time,  (although  they  had  modified  it 
greatly,  had  renounced  idolatry,  and,  in  common  with  the 
Jews,  held  to  the  five  books  of  Moses  and  looked  for  the  Mes- 
siah.) He  esteemed  of  no  saving  efficacy  ;  for,  in  His  conversa- 
tion with  the  woman  of  Samaria  at  the  well  of  Jacob,  He 
said,  "  Yc  "  (Samaritans)  "  worship  ye  know  not  what ;  we  " 
(Jews)  "  know  what  we  worship."  "  The  saving  truth  is  with 
us,  for  salvation  is  of  the  Jews."  It  pleased  Him  to  recognize 
tliis  degenerate  and  apostate  seed  of  Israel  once  at  least,  in 
deviating  from  His  ministry  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of 
Israel,  spending  two  days  with  His  Apostles  in  preaching  the 


THE   SAMARrrANS.  467 

glad  tidings  of  the  kingdom,  and  performing  miracles  in  Sa- 
maria, which  resulted  in  the  conversion  of  many  souls,  John 
iv.  1-43.  This  act  proves  that  He  did  not  share  in  the  hatred 
of  the  Jews  ;  and  so  does  His  refusal,  at  the  request  of  James 
and  John,  to  call  down  fire  from  heaven  to  consume  the 
Samaritan  village  which  declined  to  give  Him  entertainment, 
because  His  face  was  set  towards  Jerusalem,  Luke  ix,  51-56. 
Who  can  forget  the  tender,  impressive,  and  beautiful  parable 
of  our  Lord,  which,  from  the  chief  character  in  it,  we  entitle 
"  TJie  Parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan,"  Luke  x.  25-37  ?  Yet 
it  pleased  Him  to  include  the  Samaritans  with  the  Gentiles, 
and  to  exclude  them  from  the  personal  ministry  of  His  Apos- 
tles at  the  time  He  sent  them  forth  two  and  two  to  preach  the 
Gospel  •:  "  These  twelve  Jesus  sent  forth  and  commanded 
them,  saying.  Go  not  into  the  way  of  the  Gentiles,  and  into 
any  city  of  the  Samaritans  enter  ye  not :  but  go  rather  to  the 
lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel,"  Matt.  x.  5-6. 

After  our  Lord's  ascension,  obedient  to  the  commission 
"  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every 
creature,"  Matt.  xvi.  16,  His  Apostles  and  ministers  did  not 
pass  them  by.  The  Evangelist  Philip  preached  and  wrought 
miracles  in  the  name  of  Christ  among  them  with  great  success, 
and  "  when  the  Apostles  which  were  at  Jerusalem  heard  that 
Samaria  had  received  the  Word  of  God,  they  sent  unto  them 
Peter  and  John,  who  prayed  for  them  that  they  might  receive 
the  Holy  Ghost.  And  they,  when  they  had  testified  and 
preached  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  returned  to  Jerusalem  and 
preached  the  Gospel  in  many  villages  of  the  Samaritans,"  Acts 
viii.  1-25.  This  prompt  assistance  rendered,  Philip  shows  that 
after  all  the  Jews  had  a  greater  fellow-feeling  for  the  Samari- 
tans than  for  the  Gentiles,  for  no  exception  was  taken  to 
Philip's  laboring  among  them,  or  to  Peter  and  John's  going 
down  to  help  him ;  but  when  Peter  went  to  Cornelius,  and 
preached,  and  companied  with  the  Gentiles,  so  soon  as  he  came 
up  to  Jerusalem,  "  they  of  the  circumcision  contended  with 
him  "  for  so  doing.  Acts  xi.  1-18. 

The  Samaritans  were  dispersed  in  various  parts  of  the 
Roman   empire,   were    restless    under  persecutions,  endured 


468  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF    GOD. 

many  calamities,  and  participated  in  all  the  political  changes 
of  Palestine  which  occurred  both  before  and  after  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem,  even  down  to  our  day.  A  small  number 
still  survive  on  the  ancient  grounds. 

Early  in  their  history  the  Samaritans  possessed  themselves 
of  a  copy  of  the  Pentateuch,  or  five  books  of  Moses,  and  had  also 
the  books  of  Joshua  and  Judges  in  a  corrupted  form.  But  the 
five  books  of  Moses  constitute  their  Bible — their  rule  of  faith 
and  practice — and  they  receive  no  other  portions  of  the  Old 
Testament. 

Their  copy  of  the  Pentateuch  is  very  ancient,  and,  in  the 
absence  of  positive  and  reliable  testimony,  it  is  difficult,  if  not 
impossible,  to  fix  its  date.  It  may  intervene  between  their 
settlement  in  Israel  and  the  captivity  of  Judah,  or  be-  placed 
after  the  captivity  in  the  days  of  Nehemiah,  when  he  chased 
Manasseh  from  Jerusalem.  It  is  inferior  to  the  Hebrew,  dif- 
fering from  the  Hebrew  in  the  chronology,  (which  seems  to  be 
designedly  altered,)  and  in  other  particulars  also.  It  is  writ- 
ten in  the  ancient  Hebrew  or  Phoenician  character.  A  version 
of  later  date  is  found  in  the  Samaritan  language  and  char- 
acter. 

Of  all  nations  in  past  time  that  have  dwelt  in  proximity  to, 
and  have  had  intercourse  with  the  visible  Church,  the  Samari- 
tans only  have  received  and  preserved  any  connected  and  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  their  inspired  and 
authoritative  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  and  have  measurably 
conformed  themselves  to  the  ordinances  and  forms  of  worship 
therein  prescribed.  They  are  the  only  off- shoot  of  the  Churcli 
from  Adam  to  Apostolic  days  !  They  cannot  be  considered 
schismatics,  for  a  schism  does  not  destroy  fundamental  truths, 
and  consequently  the  essence  of  true  religion.  They  are,  rather, 
heretics  of  the  Old  Dispensation,  for  they  corrupted  the  knowl- 
edge and  worship  of  God  by  mingling  therewith  idolatrous 
tenets  and  practices.  When  first  instructed  by  the  j^riest  from 
Assyria,  and  in  subsequent  history,  they  have  readily  for  the 
time  conformed  their  religion  to  the  powers  that  ruled  them. 
Since  their  renunciaton  of  idolatry,  they  have  been  called  a 
sect  of  the  Jews ;  but  it  is  a  mistake  to  do  so,  for  our  Lord  did 


THE   SAMARITANS.  469 

not  acknowledge  them  to  be  such  ;   neither  did  the  Churcii  in 
His  day,  nor  the  Apostles  after  Ilim. 

What  has  preserved  this  people  ?  Conquering  nations 
have  swept  over  them  like  waves  of  the  sea,  but  the  Samari- 
tans live,  still  hold  their  Pentateuch,  worship  on  old  Mount 
Gerizim,  and  are  looking  for  Messiah  !  Shall  the  answer  be 
that  they  have  been  preserved  by  the  Jewish  element  in  them, 
which  in  the  progress  of  time  preponderated  over  the  heathen ; 
that  the  blood  of  the  covenant  seed  of  Abraham  still  lingers  in 
their  veins,  and  therefore  they  can  never  die?  They  are  now 
reduced-  to  but  a  few  hundred  souls.  Our  missionaries  visit 
them,  and  tell  them  that  Messiah  has  come.  Will  their  almost 
dead  stock  be  quickened  and  receive  Him,  and  spring  up  and 
yet  bear  fruit  unto  God  ? 


470  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

THE  KINGDOM  OF  JUDAH  FORBIDDEN  TO  GO  TO  WAE  WITH  ISRAEL. — 
DECLENSION  OF  RELIGION  UNDER  REHOBOAM. — THE  FIRST  WAR  BE- 
TWEEN THE  KINGDOMS. — REVIVAL  XTNDER  AHAS  ;  LARGELY  INCREASED 
UNDER  JEHOSHAPHAT. — DECLINE  UNDER  JEHORAM. — ATHALIAH,  THE 
USURPER,  EXECUTED. — JEHOIADA  THE  HIGH-PRIEST. — ZECHARIAH  THE 
PRIEST,  THE  FIRST  MARTYR  IN  THE  PRIESTHOOD. — REIGNS  OF  JE- 
HOASH,  UZZIAH,  JOTHAM,  AND  AHAS  ;  RELIGION  DECLINES  CONSTANTLY. 
— THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  UNDER  HEZEKIAH  :  WICKEDNESS  AND  REFOR- 
MATION OF  MANASSEH. — THE  SHORT  AND  WICKED  REIGN  OF  AMON. — 
THE  LAST  REVIVAL  UNDER  THE  PIOUS  JOS  I  AH. — RAPID  INCREASE  OP 
IMPIETY  AFTER  HIS  DEATH. — LABORS  OP  THE  PROPHETS,  OF  JERE- 
MIAH PARTICULARLY. — NEBUCHADNEZZAR  TAKES  JERUSALEM,  B.  C. 
606. — BEGINNING  OP  THE  SEVENTY  YEARS'  CAPTIVITY. — THE  BURNING 
OF  THE  FIRST  TEMPLE,  AND  FINAL  DESOLATION  OF  THE  LAND. — 
CHURCH  IN  B.ABYLONIA  ;  A  REMNANT  IN  EGYPT. — INFLUENCE  OF  KINGS 
AND  PROPHETS  IN  THE  CHURCH. — BOOKS  ADDED  TO  THE  CANON  AT 
THE   CAPTIVITY. 

Rehoboam  was  forbidden  to  attempt  the  subjugation  of  tlie 
ten  tribes  after  their  revolt,  it  being  the  divine  will  that  the  two 
kingdoms  should  dwell  in  peace,  under  the  goveinment  of  tbeir 
one  God  and  King,  nntil  the  time  for  their  reunion  should  be 
fulfilled  ;  consequently,  a  war  originating  on  either  side  would 
be  a  rebellion,  nay,  more — an  act  of  treason  against  Him.  So 
Abijah  interpreted  the  matter  in  his  address  to  Jeroboam  and 
his  army,  in  the  opening  of  the  first  war,  and  he  was  right,  2 
Chron.  xv.  1-12.  Twice  before  the  division  the  tribes  had 
separated  and  shed  each  other's  blood,  namely,  in  the  wai-  be- 
tween the  houses  of  Saul  and  David,  and  in  the  rebellion  of 
Absalom  and  Sheba.     The  kingdoms  were  in  a  state  of  bostil- 


THE   FIRST   WAR  BETWEEN    JUDAH   AND   ISRAEL.  471 

ity  all  tlie  days  of  Relioboani.  Things  went  wx>ll  in  Judali 
the  first  three  years  of  his  reign,  the  king  ruling  wisely  and 
efBciently,  fortifying  his  territories,  and  he  and  his  people 
walking  in  the  way  of  David  and  of  Solomon,  (in  his  better 
days,)  after  the  law  of  the  Lord,  They  were  encouraged  and 
strengthened  by  the  accession  of  numbers  of  priests,  Levites, 
and  people  from  Israel,  who  removed  into  Judah  away  from 
idolatry  and  oppression. 

"  A  proud  look  goeth  before  a  fall."  'No  sooner  did  Ke- 
hoboam  consider  himself  secure  in  his  throne,  than  he  "  for- 
sook the  law  of  the  Lord  and  all  Israel  with  him  !  "  In  one 
year  the  kingdom  was  plunged  into  idolatries,  sodomy,  and  all 
the  abominations  of  the  nations  whom  the  Lord  cast  out  before 
the  children  of  Israel :  "  and  they  did  evil  in  the  sight  of  the 
Lord  and  provoked  Him  to  jealousy  with  their  sins  which  they 
committed  above  all  that  their  fathers  had  done."  The  smoth- 
ered fires  of  wickedness  stirred  into  life  by  royal  favor,  burst 
into  flames,  and  judgment  lingered  not.  In  the  fifth  year  of 
Eehoboam's  reign,  and  second  of  the  backslidings,  Shishak, 
king  of  Egypt,  invaded  Judah,  took  the  fenced  cities  and 
approached  Jerusalem.  At  the  preacliing  of  Shemaiah  the 
prophet,  Eehoboam  and  the  princes  humbled  themselves,  say- 
ing, "  The  Lord  is  righteous  ; "  wherefore  the  Lord  turned 
away  His  wrath  and  would  not  destroy  the  kingdom  alto- 
gether ;  and  for  the  further  reason  that  "  also  in  Judah  things 
went  well."  There  was  strong  opposition  to  the  wickcduess 
of  the  times,  and  the  kingdom  was  spared  for  the  righteous 
ones  in  it.  Nevertheless,  Shishak  took  away  the  treasures  of 
the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  the  treasures  of  the  king's  house, 
and  Solomon's  shields  of  gold,  and  departed.  The  king  and 
his  followers  in  evil  were  awed  and  restrained,  but  not  alto- 
gether reformed  ;  yet  for  the  remaining  twelve  years  of  his 
reign,  the  kingdom  very  generally  adhered  to  the  Lord,  2 
Chron.  xi.  5-23  ;  xii.  1-16  ;  1  Ki.  xiv.  22-21. 

War  broke  out  between  tlie  two  kingdoms  in  the  reign  of 
Abijah  ;  the  king  of  Israel  being  the  aggressor.  On  the  eve  of 
the  great  battle,  Abijah  cliarged  upon  Jeroboam  and  Israel 
their  apostacy  from  God  and  tlieir  many  iniquities,  saying, 


472  THE   niSTOKT   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

"  "We  keep  the  charge  of  the  Lord  our  God,  but  ye  have  for 
saken  Him."  Eelying  upon  the  Lord,  he  went  into  battle  with 
an  odds  of  two  to  one  against  him,  and  slew,  ere  its  close,  five 
hundred  thousand  men — one  hundred  thousand  more  than  he 
had  in  his  army.  He  waxed  might}'',  and,  after  a  short  reign 
of  three  years,  left  his  kingdom  in  strength ;  but  the  idolatries 
of  his  father  remained,  and  the  state  of  religion  was  not  ma- 
terially improved,  2  Chron.  ch,  xiii.  ;  1  Ki.  xv. 

But  under  Abijah's  wise  and  pious  son  Asa,  there  was  an 
extensive  reformation,  which  continued  during  the  first  ten 
<>r  eleven  years  of  his  reign.  He  overthrew  the  altars  of  the 
strange  gods  and  the  high  places ;  broke  down  the  images ; 
cut  down  the  groves  ;  banished  the  Sodomites  out  of  the  land  ; 
brought  the  reformation  into  the  royal  household  ;  took  away 
the  idols  his  father  had  made  ;  removed  his  mother  from  being 
queen,  because  she  was  an  idolater,  and  pnblicly  burnt  her 
idol  at  the  brook  Kedron  ;  accumulated  dedicated  vessels,  sil- 
ver, and  gold  in  the  temple ;  and  commanded  Judah  to  seek 
the  -Lord  God  of  their  fathers,  and  to  do  the  law  and  the  com- 
mandment. Many  high  places,  however,  consecrated  to 
idolatry,  remained  in  the  land.  He  was  interrnpted  by  war 
in  his  twelfth  year.  Trusting  in  God,  he  defeated  a  huge  host 
of  Ethiopians  and  Lubims  ;  and,  on  Jiis  return,  being  en- 
couraged and  strengthened  in  his  zeal  for  God  by  the  prophet 
Azariah,  the  son  of  Oded,  and  by  the  prophecy  also  of  Oded 
himself,  he  recommenced  his  efforts,  and  carried  on  his  refor- 
mation more  thoroughly  over  his  whole  kingdom,  putting 
away  the  abominable  idols  out  of  all  Judah  and  Benjamin, 
and  out  of  the  cities  which  his  father  had  taken  from  Israel  in 
Mount  Ephraira,  and  renewing  the  altar  of  the  Lord  which 
was  before  the  porch  of  the  temple. 

This  glorious  revival  extended  into  Israel.  There  also  M'as 
the  Spirit  poured  out,  for  they  fell  to  him  out  of  that  kingdom 
in  abundance,  when  they  saw  that  the  Lord  his  God  was  with 
him.  He  gathered  a  vast  congregation  of  the  people,  Judah, 
Benjamin,  the  strangers  out  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  and 
.out  of  Simeon,  at  Jerusalem,  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  his  reign. 
With  sacrifices  and  offerings,  and  due  solemnity,  they  entered 


KEFORMATION    UNDER   ASA   AND   JEHOSHAPHAT.  473 

into  covenant  to  seek  the  Lord  God  of  tlieir  fathers  with 
all  their  heart  and  with  all  tlieir  soul,  to  execute  the  law, 
(Deut.  xvii.  2,)  and  to  pnt  to  death,  without  respect  of  persons, 
any  in  Judah  who  should  practise  idolatry  and  not  seek  the 
Lord.  This  they  did  right  joyfully,  with  all  their  heart,  and 
sought  the  Lord  with  their  whole  desire,  and  He  was  found  of 
them.  (1  Ki.  xv.  1-24  ;  2  Cliron.  xiv.  1-15  ;  xv.  1-19  ;  xvi. 
1-14.)  "  For  twenty  years  the  Lord  gave  His  people  rest 
round  about.  They  were  edified,  walking  in  the  fear  of  the 
Lord  and  in  the  comfort  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  so  were 
multiplied  and  established.  Asa  also  put  his  kingdom  in  a 
more  perfect  state  of  defence.  His  father  had  an  army  of  four 
hundred  thousand  men.  He  increased  it  to  five  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  ;  and  his  bow  abode  in  strength.  Somewhat 
is  alleged  against  this  pious  and  good  king.  In  the  thirty- 
fifth  year  of  his  reign,  in  his  war  with  Baasha,  king  of  Israel,  he 
purchased  the  aid  of  Ben-hadad,  king  of  Syria ;  and  when 
Hanani  the  seer  reproved  him  for  relying  on  the  aid  of  the  king 
of  Syria,  and  not  upon  the  Lord,  as  he  had  done  in  the  case 
of  the  Ethiopians,  he  was  exceeding  wroth  with  the  seer,  and 
put  him  in  a  prison  house.  At  the  same  time  he  was  guilty 
of  oppression  towards  some  of  his  people,  and  in  the  thirty- 
ninth  year  of  his  reign,  m  his  old  age,  two  years  before  his 
death,  he  was  diseased  in  his  feet,  yet  in  his  disease  he  sought 
not  the  Lord,  but  the  physicians.  He  died  greatly  lamented, 
and  they  laid  him  in  the  bed  which  was  filled  with  sweet 
odors  and  divers  kinds  of  spices  prepared  by  the  apothecary's 
art.  His  son  Jehoshaphat  succeeded  him,  than  whom  no 
king,  superior  in  wisdom,  patriotism,  energy,  and  success,  ever 
reigned  over  Judah.  He  was  the  chief  of  them  all,  and  the 
kingdom  saw  its  best  and  most  fiourishing  days  under  his 
sceptre.  He  neglected  no  part  of  his  royal  duty.  Every  in- 
terest of  his  people  received  his  earnest  attention.  One  of  his 
first  acts  was  to  conclude  a  peace  with  Israel — the  kingdoms 
having  been  in  a  state  of  hostility  for  sixty  years,  from  B.  C. 
975  to  915.  He  prepared  his  own  lieart  to  seek  the  Lord ; 
became  an  eminent  example  of  piety  ;  carried  out  the  reforma- 
tion so  happily  begun  and  continued  by  his  father ;    searched 


4:74:  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF    GOD. 

out  iniquity,  and  removed  out  of  Judali  the  remnant  of  the 
Sodomites,  and  the  idolatrous  high  places  and  groves.  The 
Lord  established  the  kingdom  in  his  hand.  He  waxed  exceed- 
inglj  mighty,  having  an  army  prepared  for  war  of  one  million 
one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  men,  of  which  Judah  furnished 
seven  hundred  and  eighty  thousand,  and  Benjamin  three  hun- 
dred and  eighty  thousand.  His  territories  were  densely  pop- 
ulated, and  in  the  highest  state  of  prosperity. 

In  the  third  year  of  his  reign,  Jehoshaphat  resorted  to  ex- 
traordinary means  to  remove  the  spiritual  ignorance  of  the 
people  and  enlighten  them  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord. 
Under  royal  commission,  he  sent  five  princes,  accompanied  by 
nine  Levites  and  two  priests,  to  teach  in  the  cities  of  Judah  : 
"  and  they  taught  in  Judah  and  had  the  book  of  the  law  of 
the  Lord  with  them,  and  went  about  throughout  all  the  cities 
of  Judah  and  taught  the  people." 

Yielding  witliout  due  consideration  to  the  impulses  of  a 
pious  and  peaceful  heart,  Jehoshaphat  formed  what  proved  to 
be"  the  great  error  of  his  reign — an  alliance  with  Ahab,  king 
of  Israel,  and  successively  with  his  son  Ahaziah,  and  his 
grandson  Joram — an  alliance  which  did  not  benefit  Israel,  but 
inflicted  lasting  evils  upon  Judah,  and  laid  anew  the  foundation 
for  declension  from  God  greater  than  ever  before.  Persuaded 
by  Ahab  to  unite  with  him  in  an  expedition  against  the 
Syrians,  their  combined  armies  were  defeated  in  battle  at 
Kamoth-gilead,  and  Jehoshaphat  came  near  losing  his  life. 
Jehu,  the  son  of  the  prophet  Hanani,  met  him  on  his  return 
to  Jerusalem,  and  reproved  him  for  the  alliance  :  "  Shouldest 
thou  help  the  ungodly  and  love  them  that  hate  the  Lord  ? 
Therefore  is  wrath  upon  thee  from  the  Lord."  l^evertheless, 
for  the  good  things  found  in  him  he  was  not  chastised  of  God, 
but  only  reproved  and  warned.  But  he  went  to  war  a  second 
time,  with  Israel  under  Joram,  against  the  Moabites,  and  their 
whole  army  was  saved  from  perishing  with  thirst  by  a  miracu- 
lous supply  of  water  sent  at  the  intercession  of  Elisha  the 
prophet,  and  particularly  on  Jehoshaphat's  account. 

This  king  was  a  nursing  father  to  the  Church.  In  order 
that  he  might  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  people,  it  was  his 


jehoshaphat's  piety.  475 

custom  to  visit,  from  time  to  time,  his  entire  territories.  After 
his  return  from  Eamoth-gilead  to  Jerusalem,  "  he  went  out 
again,"  that  is,  he  returned  and  went  out  (a  thing  he  was  ac- 
customed to  do),  "  through  the  people  from  Beer-sheba,"  the 
most  southern  extremity,  "  to  Mount  Ephraim,"  the  most 
northern,  "  and  brought  them  back  unto  the  Lord  God  of  their 
fathers  :  "  exhorting  the  judges  whom  he  set  in  all  the  fenced 
cities  of  Judah  to  discharge  their  duties  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord. 
The  supreme  court  established  in  Jerusalem  to  determine 
appeals  "  for  all  matters  of  the  Lord,"  and  "  for  all  the  king's 
matters,"  he  directed  to  act  "  in  the  fear  of  tlie  Lord,  faithfully, 
and  with  a  perfect  heart." 

His  own  and  his  people's  piety  shone  wonderfully  in  the 
manner  in  which  they  met  the  invasion  of  the  Moabites,  the 
Ammonites,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Mount  Seir.  He  pro- 
claimed a  fast  throughout  his  dominions,  and  when  the  great 
assembly  convened  in  Jerusalem,  "  all  Judah  stood  before  the 
Lord  with  their  little  ones,  their  wives,  and  their  children." 
The  king  stood  in  the  congregation,  in  the  house  of  the  Lord, 
and  prayed  in  the  audience  of  the  people  for  deliverance.  His 
prayer  was  instantly  answered  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  upon 
Jehaziel  a  Levite  :  "  To-morrow  go  out  against  them  :  for  the 
Lord  will  be  with  you  :  ye  shall  not  need  to  fight  in  this  bat- 
tle :  set  yourselves,  stand  ye  still  and  see  the  salvation  of  the 
Lord  with  you  !  " 

The  king's  address  to  his  army  the  next  day,  as  ho  was 
about  to  march,  and  his  approach  to  the  battle,  were  both 
significant  of  his  faith  in  this  answer  of  God  to  his  prayer : 
"  Hear  me,  O  Judah,  and  ye  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem !  Believe 
in  the  Lord  your  God,  so  shall  ye  be  established  :  believe  in 
His  prophets,  so  shall  ye  prosper."  He  then  placed  singers  in 
front  of  his  army,  and  they  advanced  singing,  "  Praise  the  Lord, 
for  His  mercy  endureth  forever,"  Like  the  overthrow  of  Jeri- 
cho, it  was  a  fight  of  faith.  The  Lord  confounded  the  schemes 
of  their  enemies,  who  fell  upon  eacli  other,  and  destroyed  one 
another.  Judah  had  little  else  to  do  but  gather  the  spoil.  The 
fourth  day  after,  they  assembled  in  the  valley  of  Berachah  and 
returned  thanks  unto  the  Lord  ! 


476  THE  HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

Extensive  and  powerful  as  this  revival  of  religion  was  in 
the  Church  nnder  Asa  and  Jehoshaphat,  it  was  not  entirely 
perfect,  since  it  is  added,  "  the  high  places  were  not  taken 
away :  for  as  yet  the  people  had  not  prepared  their  hearts 
unto  the  God  of  their  fathers."  The  high  places  here  intended, 
were  not  those  consecrated  to  the  worship  of  idols — for  these 
it  is  said,  2  Chron.  xvii.  6,  he  had  taken  away — but  high  places 
Avhere  the  people  worshipped  and  sacrificed  to  the  living  and 
true  God — their  own  Lord  and  Saviour — not  conforming 
to  the  law  which  requu-ed  that  all  sacrifices  should  be  off'ered 
before  the  temple  and  nowhere  else — a  "  will  worship  "  of  their 
own  devising,  to  save  themselves  the  trouble,  time,  and  expense 
of  going  up  to  the  one  altar,  and  to  the  one  temple  at  Jeni- 
salem,  1  Kings  xxii. ;  2  Chron.  xvii.,  xix.-xx. 

The  evil  of  Jehoshaphat's  alliance  with  Israel  revealed  it- 
self in  the  short  reign  of  his  son  Jehoram,  who  married  the 
daughter  of  Ahab,  and  embraced  the  religion  and  imitated  the 
character  of  that  abominable  house.  He  murdered  in  cold 
blood  his  own  brothers  of  the  seed  royal,  and  divers  princes, 
restored  the  idolatrous  high  places  on  the  mountains  of  Judah, 
and  used  his  influence  and  power  to  compel  the  people  to  the 
practice  of  idolatry  with  its  vile  impurities. 

In  the  full  tide  of  Jehoram's  apostasy,  his  attention  was 
arrested  by  a  writing  to  him  from  Elijah  the  prophet,  who 
died  in  his  father's  reign,  and  foreseeing  the  wicked  reign  of 
Jehoram  left  this  writing  to  be  delivered  to  him.  The  prophet 
had  foretold  what  Jehoram's  course  would  be  when  he  should 
be  king,  and  he  saw  that  he  had  fulfilled  the  prophecy  to 
the  letter.  "  He  had  not  walked  in  the  ways  of  Jehoshaphat 
his  father,  nor  in  the  ways  of  Asa,  king  of  Judah  :  but  had 
walked  in  the  way  of  the  kings  of  Israel,  and  made  Judah  and 
the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  to  go  a-whoring,  like  to  the 
whoredoms  of  the  house  of  Ahab  :  and  had  slain  his  brethren 
of  his  father's  house  which  were  better  than  he."  All  this  he 
had  done  !  And  what  was  to  follow  ?  Heavy  and  miserable 
judgments,  unless  he  should  repent  and  Judah  with  him. 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  because  thou  hast  so  done  "  "  behold, 
with  a  great  plague  will  the  Lord  smite  thy  people  and  thy 


USUEPATION   OF  ATHALIAH.  477 

children,  and  thy  wives  and  all  thy  goods :  and  thou  shalt 
have  great  sickness  by  disease  of  thy  bowels,  until  thy  bowels 
fall  out  by  reason  of  the  sickness  day  by  day  !  "  Both  king 
and  people  despised  this  message  of  God.  The  judgments  fol- 
lowed fast.  The  Edomites  revolted  from  under  his  hand.  The 
Philistines  and  Arabians  invaded  his  territories,  entered  Jeru- 
salem, sacked  his  palace,  carried  away  his  wives,  and  all  his 
sous,  save  one,  "  and  after  all  this  the  Lord  smote  him  in  his 
bowels  with  an  incurable  disease  :  and  after  the  end  of  two 
years,  his  bowels  fell  out  by  reason  of  his  sickness  :  so  he  died 
of  sore  diseases,  without  being  desired  (execrated),  after  a  reign 
of  eight  years  :  his  people  made  no  burning  for  him  and  gave 
him  no  burial  in  the  sepulchre  of  the  kings."  lie  left  his 
kingdom  in  a  weakened,  backslidden,  and  fallen  condition — 
lower  than  it  ever  had  been,  2  Kings  viii ;  2  Chron.  xxi. 

His  wicked  son  Ahaziah,  called  also  Azariah  and  Jehoahaz, 
walked  in  his  footsteps,  and  added,  to  his  corruptions ;  mar- 
rying also  into  the  house  of  Ahab,  and  following  the  counsels 
of  that  house  and  of  his  mother  Athaliah.  He  went  to  war, 
with  Joram,  king  of  Israel,  against  Hazael,  king  of  Sjria. 
They  were  defeated.  Joram  lay  sick  of  his  wounds  in  Jezreel ; 
there  Jehu,  while  inflicting  vengeance  upon  the  house  of  Ahab, 
found  Ahaziah  on  a  visit  to  Joram.  He  fled  and  hid  himself 
in  Samaria,  where  he  was  caught  and  brought  to  Jehu,  who 
slew  him  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign  and  gave  him  burial, 
because  he  was  the  grandson  of  Jehosliaphat,  2  Chron.  xxii. ; 
2  Kings  ix. 

Her  son  being  dead,  Athaliah,  following  the  example 
of  her  bloody  husband  Jehoram,  put  to  death  all  the  seed 
royal  of  the  house  of  Judah,  save  one  that  escaped,  and  then 
usurped  the  throne.  The  triumph  of  the  wicked  appeared 
complete.  The  house  of  the  Lord  had  been  invaded.  Ahaziah 
and  his  brethren,  the  sons  of  Athaliah,  had  distigured  and 
made  breaches  in  it  irreverently  and  contemptuously.  The 
valuable  dedicated  things  for  the  support  of  the  temple  and 
its  service,  they  had  taken  away  and  bestowed  upon  the 
worship  of  Baal,  which  had  now  been  established  in  Judah, 
as   it  had   been   in  Israel,   with   altars,   images,  and  priests. 


478  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    OF   GOD. 

But  Jelioiada  the  priest  resolutely  held  the  temple  during  the 
six  years  of  Athaliah's  usurpation,  and  conducted  the  service 
iu  tlie  prescribed  forms  :  2  Kings  xi.  1-16  ;  2  Chron.  xxii.- 
xxiii.  He  finally  succeeded  in  deposing  Athaliah,  and  estab- 
lishing his  wife's  nephew,  Joash,  or  Jehoash,  son  of  Ahaziah, 
on  the  throne — a  child  in  his  seventh  year.  lie  was  proclaimed 
king  in  the  temple,  where  he  had  been  secreted  since  his 
father's  death.  This  true  patriot  and  resolute  man,  this  zealous 
priest  and  servant  of  God,  was  born  in  the  reign  of  Solomon, 
four  years  before  the  division  of  the  kingdom,  B.  0.  980,  and 
was  contemporary  with  Eehoboam, — having  attained  his  major- 
ity the  very  year  of  that  king's  death, — and  also  with  all  the 
succeeding  kings,  Abijah,  Asa,  Jehoshaphat,  Jehoram,  and 
Ahaziah.  He  had  participated  in  the  events  and  changes  of 
these  reigns,  and  was  full  of  wisdom,  and  of  great  influence  in 
Judah.  Jehoiada  brought  up  the  royal  child  in  the  nurture 
and  admonition  of  the  Lord,  and  for  twenty-seven  years,  while 
his  uncle  lived,  he  did  that  which  was  right  in  the  sight  of  the 
Lord,  according  as  his  uncle  counselled  him.  Jehoiada's  first 
act,  after  crowning  the  child  and  slaying  Athaliah,  was  the 
assembling  the  priests  and  people,  that  with  the  king  they 
might  enter  into  covenant  to  be  the  Lord's  people.  Afterwards 
he  began  to  restore  the  blessed  days  of  Asa  and  Jehoshaphat. 
Seconding  his  designs,  the  people  went  in  their  zeal  "  to 
tlie  house  of  Baal,  and  brake  it  down,  and  brake  his  altars  and 
images  in  pieces,  and  slew  Mattan  the  priest  of  Baal  before  the 
altars."  Jehoiada  at  the  same  time  restored  the  worship  of  the 
temple  to  its  regular  form  and  order,  and  brought  the  joeople 
back  to  the  Lord  their  God,  but  not  perfectly ;  "  for  the  high 
places  were  not  taken  away,  the  people  still  sacrificed,  and 
burnt  incense  in  the  high  places."  The  temple  and  its  courts, 
after  so  long  a  time,  and  from  actual  injury  and  neglect,  had 
fallen  out  of  repair,  and  Jehoash,  self-moved,  aroused  Jehoiada 
and  the  priests  to  the  duty  of  securing  collections  from  the  peo- 
ple. He  succeeded  in  gathering  money  in  abundance  for  the 
repair  of  the  house.  The  people  gave  liberally,  so  that  silver 
and  gold  were  left  over  to  be  made  up  into  various  vessels  to 
minister  in  the  house  of  the  Lord.     The  repairs  were  thorough 


MUEDER   OF    ZECHAKIAH.  4:79 

and  complete ;  the  masons,  carpenters,  and  workers  in  iron  and 
brass,  "  set  the  house  of  God  in  liis  state  and  strengthened  it." 
"  They  offered  burnt-offerings  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  con- 
tinually all  the  days  of  Jehoiada."  While  he  lived  religion 
flourished.  Beautiful  is  the  record  of  the  death  of  this  eminent 
high-priest  and  servant  of  God  !  A  kingly  man  in  life,  he 
was  honored  with  kingly  burial  at  his  death.  "  But  Jehoiada 
waxed  old,  and  was  full  of  days  when  he  died  :  an  hundred 
and  thirty  years  old  was  he  when  he  died.  And  they  buried 
him  in  the  city  of  David  among  the  kings,  because  he  had 
done  good  in  Israel  both  toward  God  and  toward  his  house." 

When  this  holy  man  was  dead,  whose  influence  over  the 
king  was  paramount  to  that  of  all  other  men,  the  wicked 
princes  of  Judah  had  access  to  the  court  and  confidence  of  the 
king,  and  led  him  speedily  astray.  "  They  left  the  house  of  the 
Lord  God  of  their  fathers  and  served  groves  and  idols,"  and 
the  people  followed  their  rulers.  "  Yet  the  Lord  sent  prophets 
to  bring  them  again  unto  the  Lord,  and  they  testified  against 
them,  but  they  would  not  give  ear."  When  the  spirit  of  the 
Lord  came  upon  Zechariah  the  son  of  Jehoiada  the  Priest,  and 
he  stood  above  the  people,  and  said  unto  them,  "  Thus  saitli 
God,  Why  transgress  ye  the  commandments  of  the  Lord  that 
ye  cannot  prosper  ?  Because  ye  have  forsaken  the  Lord,  He 
hath  also  forsaken  you " — they  conspired  against  him,  and 
stoned  him  with  stones,  at  the  commandment  of  the  king,  in 
the  court  of  the  house  of  the  Lord  !  Our  Lord,  marks  the  spot — 
"  between  the  temple  and  the  altar."  Where  Zechariah  stood 
mediating  between  an  offended  God  and  an  ofiending  people, 
there  they  shed  his  blood  unto  death  !  Matt,  xxiii.  35.  This  is 
the  first  recorded  instance  of  the  martyrdom  of  a  priest  of  the 
Most  High  God ;  martyred  while  ministering  in  the  sanctuarj^, 
and  by  the  professing  people  of  the  Lord  ! — a  crime  hereafter 
to  be  avenged,  aggravated  as  it  was  in  the  case  of  the  king,  for 
he  imbrued  his  hands  in  the  blood  of  a  near  relative,  and,  with 
base  ingratitude  forgot  the  kindness  of  his  uncle  Jehoiada,  the 
father  of  Zechariah,  to  whom  he  owed  the  preservation  of  his 
life  and  the  possession  of  his  crown  !    "  Thus  Jehoash  the  king 


480  THE   niSTOEY   OF  THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

remembered  not  the  kindness  which  Jehoiada  his  father  had 
done  to  him,  but  slew  his  son  !  " 

God  executed  judgment  upon  him  by  the  hand  of  Hazael, 
king  of  Syria ;  and  after  his  departure  Jehoash  was  afflicted 
with  sore  diseases,  and  his  own  servants  conspired  against  him 
for  the  blood  of  the  sons  of  Jehoiada  the  Priest,  and  slew  him 
in  his  bed,  2  Kings  xi.,  xii.  ;  2  Chron.  xxiii.,  xxiv.  Amaziah 
was  a  better  king  than  his  father,  yet  "  not  like  David,"  nor 
was  he  of  a  perfect  heart.  Having  closed  a  successful  war 
against  the  Edomites,  for  which  he  could  muster  only  300,000 
men,  he  publicly  introduced  in  Jerusalem  the  gods  of  Edom,  as 
his  gods  :  for  which  God  executed  judgment  upon  him  by  the 
hand  of  Joash,  king  of  Israel,  who  defeated  and  took  him 
prisoner,  broke  down  four  hundred  cubits  of  the  wall  of  Jeru- 
salem, rifled  the  palace  and  temple  of  their  treasures,  and 
returned  in  triumph  to  Samaria.  The  defeated  king  shared 
the  fate  of  his  father,  for  he  was  finally  murdered  by  conspir- 
ators, 2  Kings  xiv.  ;  2  Chron.  xxv.  While  Amaziah  reigned, 
the  first  prophet  of  the  sixteen  whose  writings  form  a  part  of 
the  sacred  canon,  was  prophesying  in  Israel,  namely,  Jonah,  2 
Kings  xiv.  25. 

His  son  Uzziah,  called  also  Azariah,  had  a  long  reign  of 
fifty-two  years,  in  the  first  part  of  which  "  he  did  all  that  was 
right  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  according  to  all  that  his  father 
Amaziah  did :  "  that  is,  he  upheld  all  that  his  father  had  done 
which  was  agreeable  to  the  will  of  God,  but  went  no  further. 
He  sought  God  in  the  days  of  the  prophet  Zechariah,  and  was 
prospered  in  war  and  peace.  He  fortified  Jerusalem,  and 
increased  his  army  to  307,500  men.  His  fame  extended  to 
Egypt.  Although  not  accused  of  practising  idolatry  himself, 
he  permitted  it  among  the  people.  Prosperity  revealed  his 
real  character  in  his  pride,  for  he  presumptuously  attempted  to 
ofiiciate  as  priest  in  the  temple ;  but  Azariah,  the  chief  priest 
and  eighty  priests  withstood  and  thrust  him  out ;  and  while  he 
was  wroth  with  the  priests,  leprosy  arose  up  in  his  forehead  in 
the  house  of  the  Lord,  beside  the  incense-altar,  and  he  himself 
hasted  to  go  out,  because  the  Lord  had  smitten  him.   The  king 


IDOLATRY   OF   AHAZ.  481 

was  a  leper  to  the  day  of  his  death,  and  "  dwelt  in  a  several 
house,"  2  Chron.  xxvi. 

Joel  prophesied  during  a  part  of  liis  reign,  and  Isaiah  tlie 
last  year  of  it,  while  Ilosea  and  Amos  prophesied  in  Israel,  2 
Chron.  xxvi. ;  2  Kings  xv. 

The  sixteen  years  of  Jotham,  Uzziah's  son  and  successor, 
were  attended  with  no  improvement  in  the  spiritual  state  of 
the  people.  "  They  did  yet  corruptly,"  sacrificing  and  burn- 
ing incense  in  the  high  places.  Although  Jotham  was  a 
moderately  good  king,  he  followed  the  policy  of  his  father,  but 
abstained  from  imitating  him  in  entering  into  the  temple  of 
the  Lord.  Towards  the  close  of  his  reign  the  Lord  began  more 
seriously  to  press  Judah  with  her  old  enemies,  Syria  and 
Israel,  2  Chron.  xvii.  ;  2  Kings  xv.  ;  Micali  i.-ii. 

His  son  Ahaz  openly  espoused  idolatry,  "  sacrificing  and 
burning  incense  in  the  high  places,  and  on  the  hills,  and  under 
every  great  tree : "  and  was  the  first  king  that  sacrificed  human 
sacrifices — even  his  own  son  to  the  dumb  idols  !  "  Wherefore 
the  Lord  brought  Israel  low."  From  the  north  came  the  king 
of  Syria,  who  beat  him  in  battle  and  carried  away  a  great 
multitude  of  Israelites  captive  to  Damascus.  Then  Pekali, 
king  of  Israel,  slew  in  Judah  120,000  valiant  men,  and  carried 
away  200,000  women,  sons  and  daughters,  captives  to  Samaria, 
and  much  spoil.  Both  persons  and  spoil  were,  however,  soon 
after  sent  back.  From  the  south  rose  up  the  Edomites,  who 
smote  Judah  and  carried  away  captives ;  and  the  Philistines 
overran  and  retained  possession  of  the  south  of  Judah.  Ahaz 
formed  an  alliance  with  Tiglath-pilezer,  king  of  Assyria,  which 
helped  him  not,  and  he  went  forward  hardening  himself  both 
under  mercies  and  judgments.  In  his  distress,  he  trespassed 
yet  more  and  more.  He  despised  the  sign  offered  to  him  by 
Isaicih  from  the  Lord,  in  evidence  that  Judah  should  be  deliv- 
ered from  the  invasion  of  Syria  and  Israel,  Isa.  vii.  1-16 ; 
adopted  the  gods  of  Syria  as  his  gods,  •'  because,"  said  he, 
'•  the  gods  of  the  kings  of  Syria  help  them,  therefore  will  I 
sacrifice  to  them  that  they  may  help  me  !  "  and  sent  from 
Damascus  the  pattern  of  an  idolatrous  altar  to  Urijah  the 
high-priest  in  Jerusalwn,  who  built  one  like  it  in  the  court  of 
31 


482  THE  HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

the  Lord's  house,  on  which  the  king  on  his  return  sacrificed  ! 
He  had  the  brazen  altar,  whicli  stood  in  front  of  the  temple, 
Exod.  xxxviii.  1 ;  2  Chron.  i.  5-6,  between  it  and  his  own 
altar,  removed  to  the  north  side  of  his  altar,  and  appropriated 
the  brazen  altar  to  his  own  use,"  saying,  "  it  shall  be  for  me  to 
inquire  by,"  and  ordered  Urijah  to  offer  all  the  sacrifices  of  the 
Lord,  of  every  kind,  on  his  altar.  The  pliant  high-priest  and 
priests  acquiesced  in  his  profanity  and  sacrilege  !  So  much 
had  the  priests  declined  since  the  days  of  Uzziah.  Aliaz  pro- 
ceeded to  perpetrate  yet  greater  impieties  :  he  took  the  laver 
from  the  bases,  the  sea  from  off  the  brazen  oxen  and  put  it 
ujjon  a  pavement  of  stones,  and  consecrated  a  portion  of  the 
temple  to  the  service  of  the  kings  of  Assyria.  Finally  he 
"  gathered  together  and  cut  in  pieces  the  vessels  of  the  house 
of  God  "  (that  is,  a  portion  of  them,  so  that  the  priests  might 
not  use  them  in  the  temple  service,  or  that  he  might  both  sell 
and  employ  them  in  carrying  on  his  own  idolatrous  worship, 
comp.  2  Chron.  xxix.  19),  "  and  shut  up  the  doors  of  the  house 
of  the  Lord," — doors  which  had  stood  open  for  267  years  (B. 
C.  1005-738),  and  which  no  man  had  dared  to  shut  before ! 
The  priests  were  turned  out,  and  the  sacrifices  ceased,  and  the 
worship23ers  of  God  found  no  entrance !  2  Chon.  xxix.  1-7. 
"He  made  him  altars  in  every  corner  of  Jerusalem, "converting 
the  city  of  the  great  King  into  a  seat  of  idolatry  and  iniquity, 
and  essayed  to  establish  idolatry  throughout  his  kingdom : 
"  for  in  every  several  city  of  Judah  he  made  high  places  to 
burn  incense  to  other  gods."  Formality  characterized  the 
services  of  those  who  adhered  to  the  Lord,  while  iniquity  of 
every  kind  abounded  among  all  classes  of  the  people,  as  the 
writings  of  the  prophet  Isaiah  testify,  2  Kings  xvi.  ;  2  Chron. 
xxviii. ;  Isa.  vii.-x. ;  i.  1-31.  Saith  Isaiah  ;  "  when  the  enemy 
shall  come  in  like  a  flood,  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  lift  up  a 
standard  against  him"  (Isa.  lix.  19) ;  and  it  came  to  pass  in  the 
midst  of  this  decline.  Hezekiah,  the  son  of  the  wicked  Ahaz, 
in  the  royal  household,  was  converted,  and  with  other  devout 
worshippers,  mourned  in  secret  over  the  desolations  of  Zion. 
Anticipating  his  succession  to  the  throne  without  question,  he 
had  formed  his  plan  for  a  reformation  in  the  Church.     In  the 


THE   GOOD   KING   HEZEKIAH.  483 

fii'st  month  of  the  first  year  of  his  reign,  and  upon  the  first  day 
of  that  month  he  opened  the  doors  of  the  house  of  the  Lord 
which  had  remained  closed  for  ten  or  twelve  years.  He  called 
together,  the  priests  and  Levites  at  the  east  gate,  and  after  an 
earnest  address  set  them  to  the  work  of  cleansing  and  sanctify- 
ing the  house  and  courts  of  the  Lord,  which  was  accomplished 
in  sixteen  days,  when  the  priests  reported  to  the  king  that  the 
house  of  the  Lord  was  prepared  for  worship.  Early  the  next 
day  he  gathered  the  rulers  of  the  city,  went  up  and  renewed 
the  worship  of  God  with  a  sin-offering  for  the  kingdom,  for  the 
sanctuary,  and  Judah.  The  king  and  the  congregation  laid 
their  hands,  with  confessions  and  supplications,  upon  the  heads 
of  the  he-goats  for  the  sin-offering,  and  the  priests  killed  them, 
making  reconciliation  with  their  blood  upon  the  altar  for  all 
Israel.  The  offerings  were  accompanied  with  the  songs  of 
thanksgiving  and  j)raise  by  the  Levites,  with  sounding  of 
trumpets,  music  of  cymbals,  psalteries,  and  harps.  At  the  con- 
clusion, the  king  and  all  that  were  present  bowed  themselves 
and  worshipped.  These  services  Avere  followed  by  the  approach 
and  worship,  at  the  king's  command,  of  the  people  generally — 
a  large  congregation  with  numerous  sacrifices.  It  was  a  day 
of  humiliation  and  confession,  yet  of  thanksgiving,  "  so  the 
service  of  the  house  of  the  Lord  was  set  in  order.  And  Heze- 
kiah  rejoiced  and  all  the  people,  that  God  had  prepared  the 
people  :  for  the  thing  was  done  suddenly." 

Nor  did  he  confine  his  reformation  to  Jerusalem,  but  com- 
municated the  glad  tidings  of  the  reopening  of  the  house  of  the 
Lord  to  all  Judah  and  Israel,  calling  upon  all  to  humble  them- 
selves and  turn  again  to  the  Lord  that  He  might  be  merciful 
and  gracious  to  His  people ;  and  to  assemble  themselves  and 
keep  the  passover  at  Jerusalem  in  the  following,  the  second 
month.  The  posts  went  with  the  letters  of  the  king  and  his 
princes  throughout  all  Israel  and  Judah.  The  spirit  of  the 
Lord  was  copiously  poured  out :  "  for  divers  in  the  tribes  of 
Israel  humbled  themselves  and  came  to  Jerusalem  :  also  in 
Judah  the  hand  of  God  was  to  give  them  one  heart  to  do  the 
commandment  of  the  king  and  of  the  princes  by  the  word  of 
the  Lord."     In  all  this  Hezekiah  acted  by  divine  direction. 


484  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHUBCH   OF    GOD. 

To  this  passover  "  a  very  great  congregation  "  came.  Tiieir 
lirst  act  was  to  cleanse  the  city.  "  They  arose  and  took  away 
the  altars  that  were  in  Jerusalem,  and  all  the  altars  for  incense 
took  they  away  and  cast  them  in  the  brook  Kedron  !  "  Then 
they  killed  the  passover  and  kept  the  feast  seven  days  with 
great  gladness.  So  filled  were  they  with  the  spirit  of  the  Lord 
in  His  service,  that  the  whole  assembly  resolved  to  extend  their 
meeting  for  seven  other  days.  There  was  great  joy  in  Jeru- 
salem, for  no  passover  had  been  kept  equal  to  it  since  the  days 
of  Solomon.  The  Lord  was  with  His  peo]3le,  and  their  services 
closed  impressively,  for  •"  the  priests,  the  Levites,  arose  and 
blessed  the  people :  and  their  voice  was  heard  and  their  prayer 
came  up  to  his  holy  dwelling-place  even  unto  heaven." 

This  was  the  favored  hour  to  complete  the  overthrow  of 
idolatry.  The  feast  being  ended,  "  all  Israel  that  were  present 
went  out  to  the  cities  of  Judah,  brake  the  images  in  pieces,  and 
cut  down  the  groves,  and  threw  down  the  high  places  and  the 
altars  out  of  all  Judah  and  Eenjamin,  in  Ephraim  also  and 
Manasseh,  until  they  had  utterly  destroyed  them  all."  Heze- 
kiah  fully  established  the  worship  of  God  according  to  all  the 
law  of  the  Lord — even  the  regular  courses  and  services  both 
of  priests  and  Levites,  in  the  temple,  the  sacrifices,  sacred 
feasts,  and  seasons.  He  ordained  offerings  and  the  tithes  of 
all  things  :  that  the  priests  and  Levites  might  be  properly  sup- 
ported not  only  in  Jerusalem,  but  in  all  their  cities  throughout 
the  land ;  and  the  people  abundantly  seconded  his  work.  Li 
all  things  Hezekiah  himself  acted  with  all  his  heart ;  but  it 
was  otherwise  with  the  major  part  of  the  people.  Of  them 
the  holy  seer  Isaiah  speaks,  "  Wherefore  the  Lord  said.  Foras- 
much as  this  people  draw  near  me  with  their  mouth,  and  with 
their  lips  do  honor  me  ;  but  have  removed  their  heart  far  from 
me,  and  their  fear  toward  me  is  taught  by  the  precept  of  men, 
therefore  will  I  proceed  to  do  a  marvellous  work  among  this 
people,"  etc.,  Isa.  xxix.  1-14,  etc.  Hezekiah  successfully  re- 
l)elled  against  the  king  of  Assyi'ia,  and  prospered  in  his  war 
with  the  Philistines,  2  Ki.  xviii.  1-16,  but  in  the  fourteenth 
year  of  his  reign,  Sennacherib,  king  of  Assyria,  invaded  Judah, 
and  he  was  constrained  to  submit  himself  and  pay  the  tribute 


THE   WICKED   KING   MANASSEH.  485 

imposed  upon  him.  In  tliis  same  year  Hezekiali  was  miracu- 
lously healed  of  his  sickness  by  tlie  prophet  Isaiah,  and  assured 
of  the  lengthening  out  of  his  life  fifteen  years,  by  the  sign  of  the 
going  back  ten  degrees  of  the  shadow  on  his  dial.  He  was 
moreover  delivered  out  of  the  hand  of  Sennacherib,  the  Lord 
miraculously  destroying  his  army.  Tiiese  prosperous  events 
elevated  Hezekiali  in  the  sight  of  the  nations  round  about  him, 
proving  a  snare  to  himself,  for  "  His  heart  was  lifted  up  ;  he 
rendered  not  ao-ain  accordino;  to  the  benefit  done  him."  When 
Berodach-baladau,  king  of  Babylon,  sent  ambassadors  to  con- 
gratulate him  on  his  recovery  fi'om  sickness,  in  pride  and  self- 
sufiiciency,  (for  the  Lord  in  this  matter  left  him  to  himself,  to 
try  him,  that  he  might  know  all  that  was  in  his  heart,)  he 
showed  them  all  his  wealth  and  magnificence.  For  this  he 
was  reproved  by  Isaiah,  and  the  judgment  of  the  captivity  was 
pronounced,  against  him,  his  family,  and  kingdom.  "  Heze- 
kiah  humbled  himself  for  the  pride  of  his  heart,  both  he  and 
the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  so  that  the  wrath  of  the  Lord 
came  not  upon  them  in  the  days  of  Hezekiali." 

The  son  and  successor  of  so  pious  and  excellent  a  king, 
was  the  worst  man  and  the  worst  king  that  ever  sat  on  the 
throne  of  Judah.  "  "VYoe  to  thee,  O  land,  when  thy  king  is  a 
child,  and  thy  princes  eat  in  the  morning  !  "  Eccl.  x.  16  ;  Isa. 
iii.  4.  Manasseh  was  but  twelve  years  of  age  when  he  was 
crowned,  and  those  who  governed  in  the  kingdom  during  his 
youth  must  have  had  much  to  do  with  the  dreadful  relapse 
into  idolatry.  He  overturned  everything  of  the  reformation 
efl'ected  by  his  father,  and  became  an  oppressive,  cruel,  and 
bloody  tyrant,  and  an  infamous  idolater,  consecrating  himself 
to  abominations,  and  exceeding  the  vileness  of  the  heathen. 
He  built  again  the  high  places  his  father  had  destroyed,  re- 
instated the  worship  of  Baal,  and  worshipped  all  the  hosts  of 
heaven.  He  made  his  son  pass  through  the  fire,  observed 
times,  used  enchantments,  and  dealt  with  familiar  spirits  and 
wizards.  He  also  followed  the  wicked  example  of  his  grand- 
father Ahaz,  and  exceeded  him  in  that  he  built  altars  in  the 
house  of  the  Lord — altars  for  all  the  hosts  of  heaven  in  the  two 
courts  of  the  house  of  the  Lord — and  did  what  none  dared  to 


486  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF    GOD. 

do  before  him,  even  setting  a  graven  image  of  the  grove  in 
the  house  of  God — in  the  house  which  God  had  chosen,  and  of 
which  he  said,  "  In  tliis  house  I  will  x>ut  my  name  forever  !  " 
He  added  to  idolatry  and  sacrilege,  cruel  oppressions  of  his 
own  people  :  "  Manasseh  shed  innocent  blood  very  much,  till 
he  had  filled  Jerusalem  from  one  end  to  another !  "  He 
finally  succeeded  in  seducing  and  carrying  the  people  along 
with  him  "  to  do  more  evil  than  did  the  nations  whom  the 
Lord  destroyed  before  the  children  of  Israel !  " 

God's  judgment  lingered  for  a  time  ;  but  in  the  twentieth 
year  of  Manasseh's  reign,  and  the  thirty-second  of  his  life,  he 
was  taken  captive  by  the  king  of  Assyria  and  carried  in  chains 
to  Babylon.  This  miserable  sinner  it  pleased  God  to  make  a 
monument  of  His  mercy,  that  in  him,  one  of  the  chiefest  of 
sinners,  "  Jesus  Christ  might  show  forth  all  long-suffering,  for 
a  pattern  to  them  which  should  hereafter  believe  on  him  to 
life  everlasting,"  1  Tim.  i,  15-16.  By  the  Holy  Spirit  his 
affliction  was  sanctified,  and  his  heart  regenerated.  "  When  he 
wa«  in  affliction  he  besought  the  Lord  his  God,  humbled  him- 
self greatly  before  the  God  of  his  fathers,  and  prayed  unto 
Him  :  and  He  was  entreated  of  him,  and  heard  his  supplica- 
tion and  brought  him  again  to  Jerusalem  into  his  kingdom. 
Then  Manasseh  knew  that  the  Lord  he  was  God."  The  re- 
maining years  of  his  reign  he  devoted  to  the  uprooting  of  the 
idolatries  he  had  established,  and  to  the  repair  of  all  the  injuries 
he  had  inflicted  upon  the  Church.  He  purified  the  temple, 
(in  part,)  restored  the  service  of  the  Lord,  and  was  himself  a 
constant  and  humble  worshipper  there.  "  He  commanded 
Judah  to  serve  the  Lord  God  of  Israel."  The  suppression  of 
overt  acts  of  idolatry  was  perfect  in  the  kingdom  :  "  Never- 
theless the  people  did  sacrifice  still  in  the  high  places,  yet  unto 
the  Lord  their  God  only,"  2  Ki.  xxi.  5;  2  Chron.  xxxiii. 

The  wicked  reign  of  Amon,  who  attempted  to  imitate  his 
father  in  the  early  part  of  his  life,  was  suddenly  terminated 
by  his  assassination  in  his  palace  by  conspirators,  and  he  gave 
way  to  Josiah  the  last  of  the  pious  kings  of  Judah. 

Crowned  king  at  eight  years  of  age,  and  at  sixteen  sav- 
ingly converted  to  God,  Josiah  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  Asa, 


KEVrVAL   UNDEK   JOSIAH.  487 

Jeslioshaphat,  Ilezekiali,  and  Manasseh,  and  in  personal  piety 
excelled  them  all.  Saith  the  Iloly  Spirit :  "  And  like  unto 
him  was  there  no  king  before  him,  that  turned  to  the  Lord 
with  all  his  heart,  and  with  all  his  soul,  and  with  all  his  might 
according  to  all  the  law  of  Moses :  neither  after  him  arose 
there  any  like  him." 

In  the  twentieth  year  of  his  age  and  twelfth  of  his  reign, 
(2  Chron.  xxxiv.  3-7)  "  he  began  to  purge  Judah  and  Jerusa- 
lem," first  at  the  house  of  God  by  giving  commandment  to  the 
chief  priests  and  priests  to  purify  the  temple.  The  idolatrous 
vessels  made  for  Baal,  xYsteroth,  and  the  hosts  of  heaven,  which 
had  been  returned  there  by  Amon,  or  overlooked  by  Manas- 
seh, he  burned  without  the  city  at  the  brook  Kedron.  He 
brought  out  the  grove  from  the  house  of  the  Lord,  burned  it 
in  the  same  place,  and  scattered  the  ashes  contemptuously  on 
the  graves  of  the  people.  The  altars  that  were  on  the  top  of 
-  the  upper  chamber  of  Ahaz,  which  the  kings  of  Judah  had 
made,  and  the  altars  which  Manasseh  had  made  in  the  two 
courts  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  he  overthrew,  and  cast  the 
dust  of  them  into  the  Kedron.  He  next  looked  to  the  abomi- 
nations around  the  temple,  demolishing  the  houses  of  the  Sodo- 
mites that  were  by  the  house  of  the  Lord,  where  the  women 
manufactured  articles  for  idolatrous  uses.  He  took  away  the 
houses  that  the  kings  of  Judah  had  given  to  the  sun  at  the  en- 
tering in  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  burned  the  chariots  of 
the  sun.  Next  he  went  forth  into  the  city  and  destroyed  the 
idolatrous  high  places  at  its  gates  ;  and  without,  in  the  val- 
ley of  Hinnon,  he  defiled  Topheth,  and  put  an  end  to  the  sacri- 
fices of  children  to  Moloch.  He  ascended  the  mountains 
around  Jerusalem,  and  the  high  places  which  Solomon  had 
builded  (so  long  had  they  remained)  to  the  abominable  idols 
of  the  Zidonians,  the  Moabites,  and  Ammonites,  breaking  in 
pieces  the  images,  cutting  down  the  groves,  and  filling  their 
places  with  the  bones  of  men.  The  idolatrous  priests  of  every 
kind  that  burned  incense  and  served  in  and  around  Jerusalem, 
he  effectually  put  down.  Having  purged  the  temple,  the  holy 
city  and  its  suburbs,  he  went  throughout  all  Judah  on  his 
righteous  errand,  superintending  the  reformation  himself — for 


488  THE   HISTOEY    OF   THE   CHUECH    OF    GOD. 

it  was  all  done  "  in  his  presence."  Yea,  his  zeal  carried  him 
into  the  kingdom  of  Israel  now  occupied  by  the  Samaritans — 
into  the  cities  of  Manasseh,  Ephraim,  and  Simeon,  and  he  pro- 
ceeded even  into  ^STaphthali.  The  altar  and  high  place  at 
Bethel,  built  by  the  arch-apostate  Jeroboam,  he  broke  down, 
burned  and  stamped  to  powder.  He  consumed  the  bones  of 
dead  men  on  that  altar,  thus  fulfilling  a  prophecy  pronounced 
against  it  three  hundred  and  forty-six  years  before  !  (B.  C  974- 
628.)  All  the  houses  of  the  high  places  in  the  cities  of  Sa- 
maria which  the  kings  of  Israel  had  made,  he  took  away  and 
destroyed,  slaying  all  the  priests  that  were  there.  "When  he 
had  thus  gone  throughout  Judah  and  Israel,  and  finished  his 
work,  he  returned  to  Jerusalem.  So  Josiah  took  away  all  the 
abominations  oat  of  all  the  countries  that  pertained  to  the 
children  of  Israel,  and  made  all  that  were  present  in  Israel 
(that  is,  Judah  and  Israel)  to  serve  the  Lord  their  God  ;  and 
all  his  days  they  departed  not  from  following  the  Lord,  the 
God  of  their  fathers. 

It  was  not  until  six  years  after  the  commencement  of  this 
reformation,  (more  thorough  in  the  destruction  of  all  monu- 
ments and  vestiges  of  idolatry  than  any  that  had  preceded  it,) 
and  when  Josiah  was  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  his  reign,  that 
he  was  at  leisure  to  attend  to  the  repairs  of  the  house  of  God. 
Collections  vrere  made  for  the  j)urpose  throughout  all  Judah 
and  Israel.  While  the  repairs  were  in  progress,  Hilkiah 
found  in  the  temple  "  the  book  of  the  law  of  the  Lord  given 
by  Moses,"  and  sent  it  by  Shaphan  the  scribe  to  the  king, 
Deut.  xxxi.  24-26.  If  this  was  the  only  copy  of  the  law  extant 
at  the  time,  and  the  only  one  the  king  had  an  opportunity  of 
hearing,  it  not  only  demonstrates  how  sad  the  decline  had  been 
among  the  people,  but  also  how  strenuous  the  eflforts  of  the  infi- 
del kings, — Manasseh  above  all  others, — utterly  to  root  out  the 
worship  of  God  and  eff'ectually  to  blot  out  the  Church.  Tlie 
book  was  read  before  the  king,  and  he  was  overwhelmed  with 
a  conviction  of  the  sins  of  himself  and  of  Israel.  He  rent  his 
clothes,  wept,  humbled  himself  before  the  Lord,  and  prayed 
for  mercy.  He  sent  to  Huldah,  the  prophetess  in  Jerusalem, 
to  inquire  of  the  Lord  concerning  the  great  wrath  which  they 


J08IAH   JBEPAIR8   THE   TEMPLE.  489 

and  their  fathers  had  incurred.  The  believing  and  penitent 
king  was  answered  gracionsly,  that  the  wrath  incurred  should' 
fall  upon  the  place  and  people,  but,  for  the  good  that  was  found 
in  him,  not  in  his  days ;  as  for  himself  he  should  go  to  his 
grave  in  peace,  and  not  see  the  evil.  The  prophecy  was  ful- 
filled in  that  he  was  wounded  in  battle  with  Pharaoh-necho, 
king  of  Egypt,  whose  march  through  his  territories  towards 
the  Euphrates  Josiah  opposed.  He  was  brought  to  Jerusa- 
lem, and  died  in  peace,  and  his  people  were  visited  with  no 
judgments  of  God. 

Upon  the  reception  of  this  gracious  message,  the  king 
assembled  the  elders  of  Judah  and  Jerusalem,  so  many  of  the 
people  as  could  be  gathered,  and  the  priests  and  Levites,  into 
the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  he  read  in  their  hearing  the  words 
of  the  book  of  the  law.  He  stood  in  his  place  and  entered  into 
a  solemn  covenant  to  walk  after  the  Lord  according  to  His 
Word,  with  all  his  heart  and  with  all  his  soul,  and  caused  the 
people  present  to  stand  to  the  covenant ;  and  they  did  so. 

At  the  regular  time  in  the  first  month  of  the  same  year, 
the  passover  was  kept  with  great  solemnity  and  purity,  and 
by  great  numbers  out  of  Judah  and  Israel.  On  this  occasion 
he  ordered  the  Levites  to  put  the  ark  of  God  into  its  place  in 
the  temple,  and  let  it  no  longer  be  a  burden  upon  their  shoul- 
ders ;  from  which  we  gather  that  the  priests  and  Levites  must 
have  taken  it  out  of  the  holy  place  in  order  to  preserve  it  from 
profanation  and  destruction,  at  times  when  they  themselves 
were  cast  out  and  the  temple  given  up  to  idols.  Of  this  pass- 
over  it  is  written,  "  there  was  no  passover  like  to  that  kept  in 
Israel  from  the  days  of  Samuel  the  prophet,  neither  did  all  the 
kings  of  Israel  keep  such  a  passover  as  Josiah  kept."  This 
pious  king  enjoyed  in  his  kingdom  the  ministry  of  the  prophets 
Jeremiah,  Zephaniah,  and  Habakkuk  ;  and  over  his  untimely 
end  Jeremiah  uttered  his  lamentations.  All  Judah  and  Jeru- 
salem mourned  for  him,  2  Chron.  xxxiv.-xxxv.  ;  2  Ki.  xx.- 
xxiii. ;  Lam.  iv.  20. 

This  revival  of  religion  and  refornuition  in  the  Church  de- 
layed a  little  longer  the  threatened  wrath  and  captivity ;  but 
when  Josiah  was  gathered  to  his  fathers,  the  vials  were  poured 


490  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHUKCH    OF    GOD. 

.out.  In  three  months,  his  wicked  son  Jehoahaz  was  deposed 
and  carried  a  captive  into  Egypt  by  Pharaoh-Necho,  where  lie 
died.  Pharaoh-Necho  made  Eliakim,  another  son  of  Josiah, 
king  in  his  stead,  laid  the  land  under  tribute,  and  changed 
Eliakim's  name  to  Jehoiakim,  2  Ki.  xxiii.  30-35  ;  2  Chron. 
xxxvi.  1-4. 

Urijah  prophesied  against  the  city  and  the  land,  and  when 
Jehoiakim  and  the  princes  sought  to  put  him  to  death,  he  fled 
into  Egypt,  whither  the  king  sent,  had  him  apprehended, 
brought  back,  slain  with  the  sword,  and  cast  contemptuously 
into  the  graves  of  the  common  people.  But  it  was  against  the 
faithful  and  fearless  Jeremiah  that  their  wrath  was  chiefly 
stirred.  Worn  out  with  the  obduracy  and  contempt  of  the 
people,  on  one  occasion  he  cursed  the  day  of  his  birth.  Pasli- 
ur,  the  son  of  Immer  the  priest,  (who  was  also  governor  in  the 
house  of  the  Lord,)  put  him  in  the  stocks — in  the  high  gate  of 
Benjamin — by  the  house  of  the  Lord  !  The  priests,  the  (false) 
prophets,  and  the  people,  followed  the  example  of  the  king  and 
his  nobles.  They  rose  upon  Jeremiah,  and,  while  arrayed 
against  him  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  to  put  him  to  death,  the 
princes  of  Judah  hearing  the  tumultuous  proceeding,  came 
from  the  king's  house  and  had  the  case  brought  before  them. 
Jeremiah  defended  himself.  The  assembly  was  divided.  The 
princes,  people,  and  certain  elders  of  the  land,  took  part  with 
Jeremiah  against  the  priests  and  prophets,  principally  through 
the  influence  of  one  distinguished  individual,  Ahikam,  the  son 
of  Shajjhan,  Jer.  xxvi. 

In  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim,  (B.  C.  606,)  Jeremiah, 
having  been  prophesying  for  twenty-two  or  three  years,  (since 
B.  C.  628,)  predicted  the  seventy  years'  captivity  of  Judah. 
In  the  same  year,  (B.  C.  606,)  Nebuchadnezzar  took  Jerusa- 
lem for  the  first  time,  and  the  seventy  years'  captivity  dates 
from  the  year  B.  0.  606.  Nebuchadnezzar,  at  first  intending 
to  take  Jehoiakim  to  Babylon,  afterwards  changed  his  mind, 
released  him  from  his  fetters,  restored  him  to  his  kingdom,  and'' 
made  him  tributary ;  but  carried  away  a  portion  of  the  vessels 
of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  put  them  in  his  temple  at  Bab- 
ylon.    He  also  made  a  selection  of  the  best  of  the  people  and 


NEBUCHADNEZZAR  TAKES   JERUSALEM.  491 

of  tlie  seed  royal,  and  the  princes,  to  be  educated  for  his  ser- 
vice, among  whom  were  Daniel,  and  his  three  companions, 
Hananiah,  Mishael,  and  Azariah,  Dan.  i.  1 ;  Jer.  xiii.-xx. 

One  year  after,  at  a  feast,  the  roll  of  Jeremiah's  prophecies 
being  read  by  Baruch  in  the  temple  to  the  people,  and  report 
of  it  being  brought  to  the  king,  he  sent  for  the  roll,  and  after 
hearing  three  or  four  leaves  read,  he  cut  it  with  his  penlmife, 
and  burnt  it  in  the  fire,  against  the  remonstrances  of  some  of 
his  powerful  men,  Jer.  xxv.-xxxvi. ;  2  Ki.  xxxiv. ;  2  Chron. 
xxxvi.  In  the  third  year  of  his  restoration,  Jehoiakim  re- 
belled against  l!^ebiichadnezzar,  and  was  immediately  attacked 
by  forces  gathered  from  the  Chaldeans,  Syrians,  Moabites,  and 
Ammonites.  He  died  in  the  midst  of  these  commotions  by 
the  judgment  of  God,  and  his  body  was  cast  forth  beyond  the 
gates  of  Jerusalem,  with  the  burial  of  an  ass,  exposed  in  the 
day  to  the  heat,  and  in  the  night  to  the  frosts,  Jer.  xxii.  18- 
19  ;  xxxvi.  30-31.  Upon  his  death,  the  succession  in  the 
house  of  David  terminated,  and  by  the  decree  of  God,  Jer. 
xxxvi.  30  ;  for  although  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Jehoia- 
Idm,  nevertheless  in  three  months  after,  Nebuchadnezzar  took 
Jerusalem  the  second  time,  dethroned  him,  and  carried  him 
and  the  royal  household  away  to  Babylon,  together  with  the 
officers  of  the  court,  the  princes,  the  army,  the  craftsmen  and 
smiths,  and  the  notable  men  of  Jerusalem  and  the  kingdom. 
"  ]^one  remained  save  the  poorest  sort  of  the  people  of  the 
land."  The  prophet  Ezekiel  and  Mordecai  the  Jew  were 
among  the  captives  at  this  time,  Ezek.  i.  1-2  ;  Esther  ii.  5-6  ; 
2  Ki,  xxiv.  10-16.  ISTebuchadnezzar  also  carried  away  "  all 
the  treasures  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  of  the  king's  house, 
and  cut  in  pieces  all  the  vessels  of  gold  which  king  Solomon 
had  made  in  the  temple  of  the  Lord,"  in  fulfilment  of  the 
prophecy  of  Jeremiah,  xx.  5,  and  made  Zedekiah,  or  Mattaniah, 
uncle  (brother  or  kinsman,  2  Chron.  xxxvi.  10)  of  Jehoiakim, 
king,  2  Ki.  xxiv.  17 ;  Jer.  xxxvii.  1 ;  lii.  1-3. 

Zedekiah  rebelled  in  his  ninth  year,  and,  upon  the  approach 
of  Nebuchadnezzar's  army,  at  the  preaching  of  Jeremiah,  the 
king  and  the  people  released  all  the  Hebrew  slaves,  unjustly 
held  in  bondage,  and  feigned  repentance  for  their  sins,  as  theii' 


492  THE   HISTOET   OF   THE   CHDBCH   OF    GOD. 

subsequent  conduct  proved  ;  for  when  the  Babylonians  were 
actually  before  the  city,  because  Jeremiah  prophesied  success  to 
them,  Zedekiah  shut  him  up  in  prison,  Jer.  xxxvii.  1-4: ;  xxxiv. 
1-10  ;  xxxii.  1-5  ;  2  Ki.  xxv.  1-2  ;  and  immediately  as  Neb- 
uchadnezzar raised  the  siege  and  marched  against  the  king  of 
Egypt,  the  king  and  j)eople  enslaved  their  former  Hebrew 
servants  again,  Jer.  xxxvii.  5  ;  xxxiv.  11-22. 

When  Jeremiah  attempted  to  flee  into  the  country  from  the 
persecutions  in  the  city,  he  was  apprehended  as  a  deserter  to 
the  Chaldeans,  beaten,  and  put  in  a  dungeon  by  Zedekiah. 
Afterwards  he  was  removed  into  the  court  of  the  prison. 
Persisting  in  his  prophecies,  at  the  instance  of  several  princes 
he  was  cast  into  a  dungeon  worse  than  the  first,  from  which 
miserable  place,  at  tlie  intercession  of  an  officer  of  the  court, 
he  was  removed  and  kept  in  the  court  of  the  prison,  where  he 
remained  until  delivered  by  the  officers  of  Nebuchadnezzar's 
army,  on  the  day  that  the  city  was  finally  taken  and  destroyed. 
Having  defeated  the  king  of  Egypt,  Nebuchadnezzar  resumed 
thesiege  of  Jerusalem,  and  took  the  city  for  the  third  and  last 
time,  fulfilling  the  word  of  the  Lord  which  He  spake  by  the 
mouths  of  His  prophets,  "  I  will  wipe  Jerusalem  as  a  man 
wipeth  a  dish,  wiping  it  and  turning  it  upside  down,"  2  Ki. 
xxi,  10-13.  The  king,  in  attempting  to.  escape  out  of  Jerusa 
lem,  was  captured  and  delivered  to  Nebuchadnezzar  at  Riblah, 
who  slew  Zedekiah's  sons  before  his  eyes,  put  out  the  king's 
eyes,  bound  him  in  fetters  of  brass,  and  carried  him  to  Babylon. 
He  had  brought  to  him  at  Riblah  seventy-four  distinguished 
men  of  Jerusalem,  who  had  been  engaged  in  the  rebellion, 
and  put  them  to  death,  making  a  public  example  of  them.  By 
his  command  Nebuzar-adan,  his  general-in-chief,  sacked  the 
temple  completely,  and  left  neither  vessel,  nor  gold,  nor  silver, 
nor  brass,  remaining  in  it.  "  He  burnt  the  house  of  the  Lord 
and  the  king's  house,  and  all  the  houses  of  Jerusalem,  and 
every  great  man's  house  he  burnt  with  fii-e."  With  his  army 
he  demolished  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  and  rooted  and  burnt 
out  the  population,  leaving  the  city  a  heap  of  rubbish  and 
smouldering  ruins.  The  people  that  were  left  in  the  city 
when  it  was  taken,  and  those  who  during  the  war  had  deserted 


CAPTIVES   CARRIED   TO   BABYLONIA,  498 

to  the  king  of  Babylon,  and  the  remnant  of  the  multitude  of 
the  land  Nebuzar-adan  carried  away.  But  he  left  the  poor 
of  the  people,  who  had  nothing,  in  the  land  of  Judah,  and  gave 
them  vineyards  and  fields  at  the  same  time,"  2  Ki.  xxiv.  17, 
etc. ;  XXV.  1-21.  "  So  Judah  was  carried  away  out  of  their 
land,"  Jer.  xxxix.  1-19  ;  Hi.  1-23. 

ISTo  estimate  of  the  numbers  carried  into  Babylonia  is  left 
on  Sacred  Record.  There  were  six  distinct  transportations 
under  Nebuchadnezzar :  first,  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign, 
when  he  first  took  Jerusalem,  Dan.  i.  1-3 ;  xxiv.  1-2.  Sec- 
ond, in  the  seventh  year  of  his  reign,  2  Ki.  xxiv.  1-2  ;  Jer.  lii. 
28.  Third,  in  the  eighth  year,  2  Ki.  xxiv.  10-16.  Fourth,  in 
the  eighteenth  year,  Jer.  lii.  29.  Fifth,  in  the  nineteenth  year, 
when  the  temple  was  destroyed,  Jer,  lii.  12  ;  2  Ki.  xxv.  8, 
Sixth,  in  the  three-and-twentieth  year,  (which  was  four  years 
after  the  destruction  of  the  city  and  the  temple,  and  after  the 
death  of  Gedaliah,  and  the  departure  of  the  people  into  Egypt,) 
the  last  remnant  that  remained,  ISTebuzar-adan  passing  through 
Judah  when  Nebuchadnezzar  was  besieging  Tyre,  carried 
away,  amounting  to  seven  hundred  and  forty -five  persons  in 
all,  Jer. 'lii.  30. 

The  religious  history  of  Judah,  and  the  Lord's  final  judg- 
ment for  the  wickedness  of  His  people,  and  His  own  justifica- 
tion for  that  judgment,  the  Holy  Spirit  has  summed  up  in  2 
Chron.  xxxvi.  11-21,  as  follows  :  "  Zedekiah  the  king  stifiened 
his  neck,  and  hardened  his  heart  from  turning  unto  the  Lord 
God  of  Israel.  Moreover,  all  the  chiefs  of  the  priests,  and  the 
people,  transgressed  very  much  after  all  the  abominations  of 
the  heathen,  and  polluted  the  house  of  the  Lord  which  He  had 
hallowed  in  Jerusalem.  And  the  Lord  God  of  their  fathers 
sent  to  them  by  His  messengers,  rising  up  betimes,  and  send- 
ing ;  because  He  had  compassion  on  His  peoj)le,  and  on  His 
dwelling-place  ;  but  they  mocked  the  messengers  of  God,  and 
despised  His  words,  and  misused  His  prophets,  until  the  vrratli 
of  the  Lord  arose  against  His  people,  till  there  was  no  remedy. 
Therefore  He  brought  upon  them  the  king  of  the  Chaldees, 
who  slew  their  young  men  with  the  sword  in  the  house  of  their 
sanctuary,  and  had  no  compassion  upon  young  man  or  maiden, 


494  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CUUKCH   OF   GOD. 

old  man,  or  him  that  stooped  for  age  :  he  gave  them  all  into 
his  hand.  And  all  the  vessels  of  the  house  of  God,  great  and 
small,  and  the  treasures  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  the 
treasures  of  the  king,  and  of  his  princes  ;  all  these  he  brought 
to  Babylon,  And  they  burned  the  house  of  God,  and  brake 
down  the  wall  of  Jerusalem,  and  burned  all  the  palaces  thereof 
with  lire,  and  destroyed  all  the  goodly  vessels  thereof.  And 
them  that  had  escaped  from  the  sword  carried  he  away  to 
Babylon  ;  where  they  were  servants  to  him  and  his  sons,  until 
the  reign  of  the  kingdom  of  Persia  :  to  fulfil  the  word  of  the 
Lord  by  the  mouth  of  Jeremiah  (xxv.  9-12  ;  xxvi.  6-7  ;  xxix. 
10),  until  the  land  had  enjoyed  her  sabbaths :  for  as  long  as 
she  lay  desolate,  she  kept  sabbath,  to  fulfil  threescore  and  ten 
years." 

So  Judah,  at  the  end  of  two  hundred  and  fifty-four  years 
after  the  division,  saw  the  Lord  .put  away  her  backsliding  sis- 
ter Israel,  giving  her  a  bill  of  divorcement  and  sending  her 
into  captivity  ;  yet  she  went  on  in  her  wicked  way  and  turned 
not.to  the  Lord  with  her  whole  heart,  but  feignedly  (Jer.  iii. 
1-25).  ^Nevertheless,  in  fulfilment  of  His  covenant  with 
David,  and  for  the  sake  of  those  that  defiled  not  their  gar- 
ments, but  walked  with  God,  her  days  were  lengthened  out  one 
hundred  and  thirty -three  years,  until  she  "  was  carried  away 
out  of  the  land,"  having  existed  as  an  indej^endent  kingdom, 
tliree  liundred  and  sixty-nine  years,  (from  B.  C.  975  to  606,) 
and  then  as  a  tributary  to  Babylon  eighteen  years  longer, 
(from  B.  C.  606  to  58T,)  2  Ki.  xxv. ;  2  Chron.  xxxvi. 

During  these  current  three  hundred  and  eighty-eight  years, 
there  were  seventeen  kings  and  one  queen — a  usurper.  Two 
more  kings  reigned  after  Judah  became  tributary,  making 
nineteen  in  all,  and  every  one  of  the  house  of  David  according 
to  the  promise  of  God.  The  same  number  of  kings  ruled 
over  Israel,  but  the  average  reign  of  the  kings  was  much 
shorter  in  Israel  than  in  Judah.  Eleven  of  the  kings  of  Judah, 
(including  Queen  Athaliah,)  were  decidedly  wicked — some  more 
so  than  others, — namely,  Rehoboam,  Abijah,  Jehoram,  Ahaziah^ 
Athaliah,  Ahaz,  Anion,  Jehoahaz,  Jehoiakim,  Jehoiachin,  (or 
Jeconiah,)  and  Zedekiah,  (or  Mattaniah.)     Four,  namely,  Je- 


NEBUCHADNEZZAR  RULES  JUDAH.  495 

lioash,  (or  Joash,)  Amaziah,  Uzziah,  and  Jotlian,  were  wicked, 
(generally,  however,  upholding  religion,) — some  practising 
idolatry.  Four  were  decidedly  pious,  opposed  corruption  and 
idolatry,  and  promoted  religion  most  zealously  ;  namely,  Asa, 
Jelioshaphat,  Hezekiah,  and  Josiah.  One,  Manasseh,  was  for 
twenty  years  infamously  wicked,  and  for  thirty-live  eminently 
pious.  Eight  died  quietly  in  their  beds,  namely,  Rehoboam,  Abi- 
jah,  Asa,  Jelioshaphat,  Jothan,  Ahaz,  Hezekiah,  and  Manas- 
seh. One,  queen  Athaliah,  was  executed  as  a  usurper.  Three 
were  murdered  by  conspirators,  namely,  Joash,  Amaziah,  and 
Amon.  Two  died  by  special  diseases,  namely,  Jehoram  and 
Uzziah.  Two  were  killed  in  war,  Ahaziah  and  Josiah.  One  per- 
ished by  divine  judgment,  and  had  the  burial  of  an  ass,  name- 
ly, Jehoiakim  ;  and  three  died  in  captivity,  namely,  Jehoahaz, 
Jelioiachin,  and  Zedekiah.  The  evil  kings  reigned  altogether 
(including  twenty  years  of  Manasseh's  reign)  two  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  years  ;  the  good  kings  (including  thirty-five  years 
of  Manasseh's  reign)  one  hundred  and  sixty-one  years  ;  so  that 
for  more  than  one  half  of  the  time  of  the  kingdom,  religion 
was  upheld  and  the  Church  prospered. 

To  return  to  the  narrative  :  Nebuchadnezzar  appointed 
Gedaliah  ruler  over  the  people  of  the  land  of  Judah,  and, 
when  Jerusalem  was  taken,  charged  Nebuzar-adan  concerning 
Jeremiah,  with  whose  character  and  prophecies,  favorable  to 
his  success,  he  was  acquainted,  saying,  "  Take  him  and  look 
well  to  him,  and  do  him  no  harm,  but  do  unto  him  even  as  he 
shall  say  unto  thee,"  Jer.  xxxix.  11-14.  Accordingly,  Nebu- 
zar-adan  and  the  princes  with  him  sent  and  took  Jeremiah  out 
of  the  court  of  the  prison,  bound  him  in  chains,  and  carried 
him  with  all  the  captives  to  Ramah.  There  he  loosed  him 
from  his  chains,  because  he  had  been  the  prophet  of  God  by 
whom  the  successes  of  Nebuchadnezzar  had  been  predicted,  and 
said,  "  Now,  behold,  1  loose  thee  this  day  from  the  chains 
which  were  upon  thy  hands,"  etc.  ;  and  gave  him  his  choice 
either  to  go  with  him  to  Babylon,  and  be  well  provided  for 
there,  or  to  remain  with  Gedaliah  and  the  people,  or  to  go 
wheresoever  it  seemed  convenient  for  him  to  go.  The  holy 
and  patriotic  man  determined  to  remain  with  and  sliare  the 


496  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

fortunes  of  the  remnant  of  the  people.  "  So  the  captain  of  the 
guard  gave  him  victuals,  and  a  reward,  and  let  him  go,"  com- 
mitting him  to  the  care  of  Gedaliah  the  governor,  Jer.  xl.  1-6  ; 
xxxix.  14. 

The  news  of  the  appointment  of  Gedaliah  as  governor  over 
all  the  people  that  were  left,  spread  through  the  land  and  the 
countries  round  about.  The  captains  and  men  of  Zedekiah's 
army  who  had  escaped  from  Jerusalem  and  from  the  pursuit  of 
the  Chaldeans,  and  had  secreted  themselves  in  the  fields,  came 
and  submitted  themselves  to  Gedaliah,  who  encouraged  them 
to  dwell  in  the  land  and  serve  the  Chaldeans.  Likewise,  all 
the  Jews  that  were  in  Moab,  among  the  Ammonites,  in  Edom, 
and  in  all  the  countries  and  places  whither  they  were  driven 
and  had  fled  for  refuge,  returned  and  came  to  Gedaliah,  at 
Mizpah,  which  he  had  made  the  seat  of  government. 

Tlie  remnant  thus  collected  began  to  occupy  the  deserted 
villages  and  fields,  to  gather  summer  fruits,  and  to  settle  them- 
selves permanently ;  but  their  quiet  and  prosperity  w^ere  of 
shojt  duration.  Baalis,  king  of  the  Ammonites, — for  what  rea- 
son we  are  left  to  conjecture, — securing  the  friendship  and  ser- 
vices of  Ishmael,  one  of  the  prominent  ofiicers  in  Zedekiah's 
army,  sent  him  to  slay  Gedaliah.  The  noble,  generous,  and  con- 
fiding man,  although  warned  by  other  ofBcers  of  Ishmael's  de- 
signs, could  not  believe  him  capable  of  such  execrable  and 
bloody  perfidy ;  and  when  his  friend  Johanan  laid  before  him  the 
evils  which  would  befall  the  remnant  of  J  udah  in  the  event  of 
his  being  murdered,  and  ofi'ered  to  go  himself  and  put  the  trai- 
tor and  assassin  to  death,  Gedaliah  would  neither  permit  him 
to  do  it,  nor  take  any  precautions  against  Ishmael ;  but*  care- 
lessly entertaining  Ishmael  with  ten  of  his  men  at  Mizpah, 
Ishmael  rose  upon  him  and  put  him  to  the  sword,  and  the  Jews, 
and  the  men  of  war,  and  the  Chaldeans  found  there  with  him. 
The  next  day  he  slew  eighty  more  unsuspecting  and  innocent 
men  who  came  up  from  Shechcm,  Shiloh,  and  Samaria  for  re- 
ligious purposes  ;  then  gathering  all  the  people  together  in 
Mizpah  he  departed  to  go  over  to  the  Ammonites,  2  Ki,  xxv. 
23-26  ;  Jer.  xl.  1-16  ;  xli.  1-10,  but  he  was  speedily  pursued 
by  Johanan  and  the  captains   of  the   forces,  and  overtaken 


DESTRUCTION   OF   THE   JEWS    m   EGYPT.  497 

in  Gibeou.  The  captives  welcomed  Johanan  with  great 
joy,  but  Ishmael  made  his  escape  with  eight  men  to  the  Am- 
monites. 

Johanan  and  the  leaders  of  the  people,  apprehensive  that 
the  assassination  of  Gedaliah  would  be  avenged  by  the  Chal- 
deans, removed  and  dwelt  near  Bethlehem,  with  the  design  of 
escaping  into  Egypt ;  and,  in  order  to  clothe  their  design  with 
authority,  dissembled,  consulted  Jeremiah,  and  promised  to 
be  guided  by  the  will  of  God.  They  were  forbidden  to  go  to 
Egypt,  under  penalty  of  destruction  by  sword,  pestilence,  and 
famine ;  and  warned  that  the  Chaldeans,  whom  they  feared, 
would  conquer  Egypt,  and  exterminate  them  to  a  very  small 
remnant,  they  were  promised,  however,  tliat  if  they  remained 
and  were  obedient,  the  Lord  would  preserve  and  bless  them. 
They  accused  the  prophet  of  speaking  falsely,  and  presumptu- 
ously executed  their  design  by  removing  to  Tahpanhes  in  Egypt, 
carrying  Jeremiah  along  with  them.  Unmindful  of  the  severe 
judgments  through  vrhich  they  had  passed,  and  despising  the 
faithful  warnings  of  the  prophet,  they  went  on  with  their  idol- 
atries and  burned  incense  to  the  gods  of  Egypt.  Both  men  and 
women  justified  themselves,  saying,  "  "When  we  worshipped 
the  queen  of  heaven,  we  saw  no  evil ;  and  when  we  ceased  to 
worship  her  we  were  consumed  with  sword  and  famine." 

Jeremiah  died  in  advanced  life,  among  them  in  Egy^Dt — 
when,  where,  and  how,  there  is  no  reliable  information.  lie 
had  exercised  his  prophetic  office  over  forty  years.  To  the  last 
he  reproved  and  expostulated  with  the  people  for  their  sins, 
and  repeated  his  prophecies  of  coming  judgments  upon  them- 
selves and  upon  Egypt ;  and  to  the  last  they  gainsay ed  and 
resisted  him  !  Jer.  xliii.  8-13  ;  xliv.  1-30  ;  xlvi.  13-28  ;  Ezek. 
XXX.  1-12. 

His  prophecies  were  fulfilled.  Sixteen  years  after  (B.  C. 
570)  the  company  went  down  into  Egypt,  ^Nebuchadnezzar, 
having  reduced  Tp'e,  invaded  and  conquered  that  country 
which  the  Lord  gave  him  for  the  loss  of  his  wages  at  T}Te, 
Ezek.  xxix.  18-20,  and  the  Jews  perished  under  his  hand,  save 
a  very  small  remant  of  such  as  might  have  been  in  Egypt  be- 
fore, or  who  had  been  compelled  against  their  will  to  go  down 
32 


498  THE    HISTOKT   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

tliere,  as  Jeremiah  intimates,  (xliv.  11-14,  28,)  and  whicli  rem- 
nant after  a  time  found  tlieir  way  back  to  Judea, 

It  was  indeed  difficult  to  remove  entirely  the  children  of 
Israel  out  of  their  own  land.  Even  after  Johanan  had  carried 
the  peo^Dle  into  Egypt,  there  was  a  considerable  number  left 
behind  that  had  gathered  there  from  surrounding  countries ; 
for,  four  years  after  the  destruction  of  the  temple,  as  already 
stated,  and  some  two  years,  perhaps,  after  the  death  of  Geda- 
liah,  while  JSTebuchadnezzar  was  prosecuting  the  siege  of  Tyre, 
Xebuzar-adan  passed  through  Judah  and  gathered  up  the 
Jews  still  lingering  in  the  country,  amounting  to  seven  hun- 
dred and  forty-five  persons,  and  sent  them  to  Babylon,  Jer. 
lii.  30. 

With  the  death  of  Gedaliah  and  the  flight  of  Johanan  into 
Egypt,  the  very  last  shadow  of  the  civil  government  of  the 
people  of  God  in  their  own  land  passed  away.  They  came 
into  possession  of  it  under  Joshua,  in  1451  B.  C.  The  judges 
ceased  to  rule  and  Saul  was  proclaimed  king  in  1096,  In  975 
th&  kingdom  was  divided.  The  kingdom  of  Israel  went  into 
captivity  in  721,  and  that  of  Judah  in  587.  The  visible  Church 
had  therefore  existed  as  a  state  or  nation  in  her  own  land  eight 
Imndred  and  sixty-four  years. 

The  history  proper  of  the  Church,  and  to  which  may  be 
added  all  that  was  written  in  Scripture,  and  which  belongs  to 
and  illustrates  and  confirms  that  history — extending  over  this 
vast  tract  of  time — the  Holy  Spirit  in  Ilis  infinite  wisdom  (as 
we  have  had  occasion  to  remark  before)  has  compressed  into  a 
very  short  account.  Important  reigns  of  many  years  are  em- 
braced in  as  many  verses.  The  leading  and  controlling  events 
are  recorded  ;  but  their  causes,  progress,  and  consummation, 
in  their  details,  are  passed  over.  Many  volumes  could  not 
have  contained  them.  Yet,  in  this  abridged  form,  the  connec- 
tion of  the  whole  history  from  beginning  to  end  is  jjerfect — 
not  a  link  is  broken  or  even  fractured — for  it  is  the  Omniscient 
Spirit  who  guided  the  many  employed  in  its  preparation. 
The  temporal  afiiiirs  of  the  Church  are  briefly  passed  over,  and 
always  viewed  in  a  religious  light ;  so  making  the  history  a 
religious    one  from  beginning  to  end.     The  people  are  the 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  KINGS.  499 

people  of  God.  The  history  is  the  history  of  the  Church  of 
God. 

It  is  impossible  even  to  conjecture  the  jiroportiou  of  the 
visible  Churcli  earned  away  by  Nebuchadnezzar  at  different 
times  out  of  Judah,  who  were  truly  pious — a  remnant  of  be- 
lievers, though  small,  yet  according  to  the  election  of  grace, — 
and  to  whom  we  add  Jeremiah  and  the  few  chosen  ones  who 
went  with  him  into  Egypt. 

Standing  amidst  the  ruins  of  Jerusalem,  and  overlooking 
the  desolations  of  the  holy  land,  how  dark  the  shadows  which 
rest  upon  the  cause  of  true  religion  in  the  world  !  All  Israel 
scattered,  in  captivity  among  the  heathen  nations,  and  seem- 
ingly doomed  to  absorption  and  extinction  !  That  light  which 
burnt  for  so  many  centuries,  with  brighter  or  feebler  rays — 
the  only  hope  of  the  world — is  now  violently  removed  out  of 
its  place,  and  almost  extinguished,  borne  into  the  very  regions 
of  the  shadow  of  death  ! 

The  history  of  the  two  kingdoms  now  completed,  illustrates 
the  influence  of  the  kings  over  the  people,  either  for  good  or 
evil,  according  to  their  individual  character — a  result  which 
flowed  from  the  peculiar  nature  of  their  government,  which 
was  a  theocracy,  the  kings  being  the  vicegerents  of  the  Great 
King.  They  were  favored  with  the  constitution  and  laws  of 
the  state  written  in  the  Scriptures,  under  and  according  to 
which  they  were  to  rule,  with  the  opportunity  in  all  cases  of 
perplexity  of  an  appeal  immediately  to  God  for  infallible  direc- 
tion ;  and  also  with  the  aid  of  counsellors  in  the  persons  of  the 
chief  officers  of  their  courts,  of  princes  of  the  people,  and  of  the 
ministers  of  religion.  Nevertheless,  the  power  lodged  in  their 
hands,  for  the  use  of  which  they  were  accountable  to  God  in 
whose  stead  they  reigned,  was  exceedingly  great,  if  not  abso- 
lute ;  so  that  generally  the  character  of  the  king  determined 
the  character  of  the  people.  Hence  we  can  well  understand 
the  remark  of  Solomon,  the  wisest  of  the  kings,  "  "Where  the 
word  of  a  king  is,  there  is  power :  and  who  may  say  unto 
him,  What  doest  thou  ?  "  Eccl.  viii.  4. 

The  people  rejected  the  immediate  government  of  God ; 
and,  at  their  request.  He  gave  them  a  king  in  His  wrath,  and 


500  THE   HISTOKY   OF  THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

predicted  the  evils  wliicli  they  would  suffer  by  the  change,  in- 
somuch that  they  would  cry  out  on  that  day  in  their  trouble 
and  distress  because  of  their  king,  Deut.  xvii.  14-15  ;  1  Sam. 
ii.  10  ;  viii.  1-20 ;  xii.  1-25.  However,  the  Lord  forsook  them 
not,  but  continued  to  be  their  God  and  King,  although  He 
permitted  them  to  eat  the  bitter  fruit  of  the  change  w^hich  they 
had  rebelliously  brought  about.  In  Judah  He  graciously  re. 
lieved  their  afflictions  by  intermingling  the  reigns  of  righteous 
kings  with  the  reigns  of  wicked  kings  ;  but  in  Israel  there  was 
no  relief,  the  reigns  were  all  evil,  and  the  catastrophe  was  the 
sooner  precipitated.  The  bringiug  in  of  the  kingly  power 
with  its  progress  and  effects,  was  but  a  part  of  God's  eternal 
and  all  wise  counsels,  of  His  government  of  the  Church,  and 
of  His  unfolding  within  her  bosom  the  character  and  glory 
of  Him  whom  He  had  decreed  to  set  King  in  Zion,  Pss. 
xlv.,  ex. 

Tlie  history  illustrates  also  the  necessity  of  the  prophetic 
office  to  the  Church  in  those  ages.  As  the  succession  of  kings 
from  Saul  was  unbroken,  whether  right  or  wrong,  so  was  the 
succession  of  the  prophets  from  Samuel  unbroken,  but  always 
true.  Every  king  enjoyed  in  his  reign  the  ministrations  of  a 
prophet,  and  not  unfrequently  of  several  at  the  same  time. 
They  were  the  inspired  expounders  of  the  law  of  God,  and 
revealers  of  His  will  concerning  the  Church  and  the  world. 
They  revealed  the  person,  offices,  and  work  of  the  coming  Mes- 
siah, thus  keeping  always  before  the  Church  the  promise  of  the 
bright  morning  star  which  should  be  "  a  light  to  lighten  the 
Gentiles  and  the  glory  of  His  people  Israel ;"  unto  which  prom- 
ise in  due  time  the  twelve  tribes,  instantly  serving  God  day  and 
night,  hoped  to  come,  Luke  i.  T8  ;  'Kev.  xxii.  16  ;  Acts  xxvi. 
6-7.  They  thus  builded  the  Church  upon  the  foundation  of 
the  prophets,  (as  it  was  also  done  afterwards  by  the  Apos- 
tles,) Jesus  Christ  Himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone,  Eph. 
ii.  20. 

The  books  added  to  the  sacred  canon  when  the  Church 
went  into  captivity,  were  those  whose  matter  was  all  complete 
up  to  that  period  of  time ;  namely,  the  four  books  of  Kings 
and  Chronicles,  and  the  prophets  in  chronological  order,  Jonah, 


BOOKS  ADDED  TO  THE  CANON.  501 

Joel,  Amos,  Hosea,  Isaiah,  Micah,  Nalium,  Zephaniali,  Hab- 
akkuk,  Obadiali,  and  Jeremiali,  togetlier  with  his  Lamenta- 
tions— eleven  in  all,  making  in  volume  about  a  fourth  part  of 
the  Old  Testament. 


502  THE  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHUKCH  OF   GOD. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

TERRITORY  OF  JUDAH  NOT  COLONIZED. — THE  EINGDOMS  OF  ISRAEL  AND  OF 
JUDAH  BROUGHT  TOGETHER  IN  THE  CAPTIVITY. — ORDER  OP  THE 
EVENTS   IN   THE    CAPTIVITY. — DANIEL  AND    HIS    THREE   FRIENDS,  AND 

EZEKIEL    AND    MORDECAI. JEREMIAH'S    MINISTRY    TO    THE    CAPTIVES 

TERMINATED. — EZEKIEL  CALLED  :  SUCCEEDED  BY  DANIEL. — THE  FIERY 
FURNACE. — DANIEL,  NEBUCHADNEZZAR,  AND  HIS  SUCCESSORS. — THE 
lion's  den. — CYRUS  DECREES  TSE  RETURN  OP  THE  CHILDREN  OP 
ISRAEL. — DANIEL  DIES. — THE  DISPERSION. — REMARKS  ON  THE  CAP- 
TIVITY.— ^JOY  OP  THE  CHURCH. — ZERUBBABEL. — "WORSHIP  RESUMED, 
AND  FOUNDATIONS  OP  THE  SECOND  TEMPLE  LAID  IN  JERUSALEM  :  FIN- 
ISHED AFTER  TWENTY  YEARS. — PROPHETS  HAGGAI  AND  ZECHARIAH. — 
EZRA  SUCCEEDS  ZERUBBABEL  IN  GOVERNMENT  OP  JUDEA. —ESTHER. — 
NEHEMIAH  THE  THIRD  GOVERNOR. — MALACHI  LAST  OP  THE  PROPHETS. 
— CANON  OP  OLD  TESTAMENT  SCRIPTURES  CLOSED  ABOUT  400  YEARS 
B.  C. 

Kebuchadnezzae  did  not  colonize  the  territories  of  Judah 
after  removing  the  inhabitants,  and  thereby  fulfilled  the  decree 
of  God,  that  it  shonld  enjoy  its  sabbaths.  If  we  survey  the 
territories  of  both  Judah  and  Israel,  lately  occupied  by  the 
visible  Church,  we  see  the  more  northern,  southern,  and  eastern 
portions  lying  waste ;  the  fields  open  and  growing  up  into  a 
wilderness  of  weeds,  briers,  and  thorns  ;  the  cities  and  villages 
without  inhabitants  and  crumbling  to  ruins.  J^othing  relieves 
the  sad  desolation,  but  tribes  of  men  wandering  with  their 
flocks  from  place  to  place  in  search  of  pasture,  and  .the  fisher- 
men coasting  the  silent  shores  of  the  great  sea  and  spreading 
their  nets  to  dry  upon  the  rocks !  The  central  j)arts  of  the 
once  populous  country  are  inhabited  by  Samaritans,  who  here- 
after are  to  become  the  perj)etual  enemies  of  the  Jews ;  and  so 


HISTORY    OF   TUE   CAPTIVITY.  603 

God  keeps  open  the  land  for  the  return  and  occupation  of  those 
to  wliom  He  lias  willed  it. 

Let  us  follow  the  Church  into  her  captivity. 

The  history  of  the  ten  tribes  for  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
three,  or  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  years  from  their  captivity 
to  the  captivity  of  Judah,  is  a  blank  never  to  be  filled  !  Tlieir 
brethren  of  Judah  were  carried  into  the  same  country,  and 
settled  in  the  same  provinces  with  themselves,  and  their  sepa- 
ration into  two  kingdoms,  never  designed  by  God  to  be  per- 
manent, is  now  over  and  gone.  The  shadows  of  affliction  draw 
together  the  sundered  children  of  God. 

The  Babylonian  empire  attained  its  greatest  extent  and 
glory  under  ^Nebuchadnezzar  the  Great.  Among  the  kings  of 
succeeding  empires,  he  was  "  the  head  of  gold  ;  "  as  a  mon- 
arch, "  the  great  tree,  which  grew  and  was  strong,  whose 
height  reached  unto  tlie  heavens,  and  the  sight  thereof  to  all 
the  earth  :  whose  leaves  were  fair  and  the  fruit  thereof  much, 
and  in  it  was  meat  for  all :  under  which  the  beasts  of  the  field 
dwelt,  and  upon  whose  branches  the  fowls  of  heaven  had  their 
habitation,"  Dan.  ii.,  iv.  Under  the  shadow  of  this  great  tree 
the  Church  now  dwelt ;  the  bulk  of  her  members  in  particular 
districts  (not  at  this  distance  of  time  and  after  so  many 
changes,  distinctly  to  be  traced  out),  and  a  portion  dispersed 
in  greater  or  less  numbers  throughout  them  all. 

Let  us  give  I  he  history  of  the  captivity  in  the  order  of 
events  as  they  may  be  gathered  and  arranged  from  the  Word 
of  God. 

"When  Nebuchadnezzar  first  took  Jerusalem,  B.  C.  606,  he 
carried  away,  among  other  notable  captives,  Daniel  and  his 
three  friends  Hananiah,  Mishael,  and  Azariali.  Four  years 
after,  having  completed  a  course  of  instruction  in  the  language 
and  learning  of  the  Chaldees,  that  thej  might  be  fitted  "  to 
stand  before  the  king  ;  "  and  having  successfully  j^assed  their 
examination,  and  being  approved  by  the  king,  they  were 
appointed  to  stand  before  him,  Dan.  i.  1-21.  Thus,  within  so 
short  a  time  after  the  beginning  of  the  captivity,  the  Lord  in 
mercy  sent  these  Ilis  servants  before  the  face  of  His  afflicted 
people  to  occupy  high  positions  of  influence,  even  within  the 


504:  THE   niSTOEY   OF   THE   CHUKCH    OF   GOD. 

royal  court  itself ;  and  where  they  might,  as  God  should  open 
the  way,  render  essential  service  to  them.  Three  or  four  years 
after  their  elevation,  I«J"ebuchadnezzar  a  second  time  besieged 
and  took  Jerusalem,  and,  among  many  others,  brouglit  into 
Babylon  Ezekiel  the  prophet  and  Mordecai  the  Jew — indi- 
viduals destined  like  Daniel  and  his  companions  to  become 
distinguished  in  the  period  of  the  captivity,  Ezek.  i.  1-2  ; 
Esther  ii.  6. 

Two  years  (B.  C.  597)  after  this  second  capture  of  Jeru- 
salem and  deportation  of  people,  word  was  sent  to  Jeremiah 
of  the  wicked  conduct  of  two  false  prophets  who  had  risen  up 
in  Babylonia,  and  of  their  lying  predictions  concerning  the 
duration  of  the  captivity,  and  concerning  the  people  left  in 
Judea,  whereby  they  of  the  captivity  were  perplexed  and  made 
restless.  The  prophet  returned  a  letter  from  Jerusalem  to  the 
elders,  priests,  prophets,  and  all  the  people,  by  Elasah  Hema- 
riah,  messenger  of  Zedekiah  the  king,  to  ]!!*[ebuchadnezzar  king 
of  Babylon.  In  that  letter  Jeremiah  commanded  the  captives 
qaietly  to  submit  to  the  hand  of  God ;  to  build  houses  and 
dwell  therein  ;  to  plant  gardens,  and  eat  the  fruit  of  them ;  to 
contract  marriages  for  themselves  and  for  their  sons  and 
daughters,  that  they  might  be  increased  and  not  diminished  ; 
to  seek  the  peace  of  the  city,  and  pray  unto  the  Lord  for  it, 
for  in  the  peace  thereof  they  should  have  peace ;  to  pay  no 
attention  to  false  prophets,  for  their  captivity  would  be  for 
seventy  years,  and  after  that  the  Lord  would  visit  them  in 
mercy  and  restore  them  in  a  humble  and  sincere  state  of  mind 
to  their  own  land  ;  and  not  to  expect  anything  from  their  breth- 
ren left  behind  in  Judah,  for  the  Lord  would  soon  visit  them 
with  judgments,  and  cause  them  to  go  into  captivity  also.  He 
moreover  declared  the  doom  of  the  two  false  prophets,  namely, 
Ahab  and  Zedekiah — that  Nebuchadnezzar  would  apprehend 
and  roast  them  in  the  lire,  and  make  them  an  example  to  all 
teachers  of  rebellion  and  disaffection  ;  which  came  to  pass  ! 

This  letter  being  delivered  to  the  captives,  Shemaiah,  a 
false  prophet  among  thein,  answered  it  in  a  letter  to  the  chief 
priests  and  people  in  Jerusalem,  commanding  them  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  to  put  Jeremiah  in  prison  and  in  the  stocks. 


Jeremiah's  ministky  teemikated.  605 

Jeremiali  returned  an  answer  to  the  captives,  that  the  Lord 
would  punish  Sliemaiah  and  his  seed,  and  cut  ofl'his  succession 
among  the  people,  and  that  he  should  die  in  captivity  before 
the  good  days  of  the  restoration  should  come  about,  Jer.  xxix., 
1-23,  24-32. 

Two  years  after  this  correspondence  (B.  C.  595),  in  the 
fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  Zedekiah,  Jeremiah  delivered  his 
prophecies  against  Babylon,  and  also  his  prophecies  of  the 
redemption  of  Israel,  and  wrote  the  whole  in  a  book  and 
delivered  it  to  Seraiah,  a  prince  about  to  accompany  Zedekiah 
to  Babylon,  commanding  him  to  read  it  in  Babylon,  not  only 
as  a  warning  to  that  kingdom,  but  also  as  an  encouragement 
to  the  captive  cliildren  of  Israel ;  and  when  he  had  done  so,  to 
bind  a  stone  to  the  book,  and  cast  it  into  the  midst  of  the 
Euphrates,  saying,  "  Thus,"  saith  the  Lord,  "  shall  Babylon 
sink  and  shall  not  rise  from  the  evil  that  1  will  bring  upon 
her,"  Jer.  l.-li.  With  this  act  he  ended  his  ministrations  to 
the  people  in  captivity,  and  in  the  same  year  Ezekiel  was 
called  of  God  to  be  a  prophet  to  them  :  B.  C.  595.  He  had 
been  four  years  in  Babylonia,  and  was  thirty  years  of  age  at 
the  time  of  his  call,  if  we  consider  him  as  referring  to  his  age 
in  Ezek.  i.  1.  He  had  his  dwelling  among  his  people  on  the 
river  Chebar,  which  is  described  as  falling  into  the  Euphrates, 
at  Carchemish,  about  two  hundred  miles  north  of  Babylon. 
Far  away  in  the  heart  of  the  vast  empire  his  solitary  voice  was 
heard,  and  the  people  received  his  communications  and  resorted 
to  him  for  instruction,  Ezek.  viii.,  xiv.,  xx.  He  prophesied  in 
all  between  twenty  and  twenty-two  years — about  eight  before, 
and  fourteen  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem — and  his  proph- 
ecies relating  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  con- 
quest of  Egypt  by  ISTebuchadnezzar,  are  identical  in  substance 
with  those  of  Jeremiah  delivered  at  the  same  time ;  for  they 
were  moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit  simultaneously  to  predict  the 
same  events,  when  widely  separated  and  unable  to  hold  inter- 
course with  each  other,  Ezek.  i.-xxiv.  jSTews  of  the  final  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem,  which  he  had  jDredicted,  reached  him  on 
the  banks  of  the  Chebar  in  the  twelfth  year  of  his  captivity, 
Ezek.  xxxiii.,  21. 


506  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  GOD. 

Daniel,  in  the  court  of  Nebucliadnezzar,  had  attained  a 
reputation  among  the  captive  Israelites  for  superior  holiness 
and  wisdom  ;  for  Ezekiel  knew  him  by  character,  if  not  per- 
sonally, and  spoke  of  him  twice  in  his  prophecies — the  iirst 
time  in  ch.  xiv.  14,  after  Daniel  had  been  about  fourteen  years 
in  Babylon,  and  then  supposed  to  be  only  about  thirty. 
Ezekiel  ranks  him  for  piety  and  prevalence  in  prayer  with  the 
greatest  of  saints,  adducing  this  testimony  of  God  concerning 
him,  "  Though  these  three  men,  ISToah,  Daniel,  and  Job,  were 
in  it,"  (i.  e.,  in  the  laud  sinning  grievously,)  "  they  should 
deliver  their  own  souls  by  their  righteousness  saith  the  Lord 
God."  He  is  spoken  of  again,  Ezek.  xxviii.  3,  where,  denounc- 
ing judgment  against  Tyrus,  he  ironically  addresses  the  prince 
of  Tyrus,  "  Behold,  thou  art  wiser  than  Daniel  :  tliere  is  no 
secret  that  they  can  hide  from  tliee." 

Ezekiel  died  the  year  before  Nebuchadnezzar  destroyed 
Tyre,  B.  C.  574,  and  his  mantle  fell  upon  Daniel.  From  the 
destruction  of  that  famous  city,  N^ebuchadnezzar  marched  into 
Egypt  and  subdued  that  kingdom.  Returning  in  triumph  to 
his  capital,  he  ruled  his  wide  dominions  witiiout  an  enemy. 
In  this  dark  hour,  wlicn  this  idolatrous  power  had  swallowed 
up  almost  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  then  known  world,  and  the 
Church  seemed  buried  in  its  multitudes  of  people,  and  never 
more  to  be  separated  and  revived,  (truly  the  "  dry  bones  "  in 
Ezekiel's  valley,  lost  and  cut  off  from  hope  and  life  forever, 
Ezek.  xxxvii.,)  God  revived  His  people  by  bringing  forward 
Daniel,  already  known  as  one  eminently  holy,  and  filled  with 
knowledge  and  understanding  ;  but,  beyond  all  this,  now  the 
inspired  prophet  of  the  Lord  and  gifted  with  miraculous 
power. 

ISTo  man,  however  exalted,  or  prosperous,  or  engaged,  is 
free  from  moments  of  serious  reflection,  when  the  mind,  con- 
scious of  its  own  weakness  and  dependence,  and  impressed  with 
the  emptiness  and  transitory  nature  of  all  earthly  things, 
anxiously  looks  into  the  future  and  strives  to  anticipate  the 
things  that  shall  be  hereafter,  especially  the  things  concerning 
itself.  In  the  second  year  of  his  universal  monarchy,  Nebu- 
chadnezzar the  Great,  upon  his  bed,  thought  of  "  wiiat  should 


THE   FIERY   FUKNACE.  607 

come  to  pass  hereafter."  The  dream  which  followed,  the  vision 
of  God  which  stood  before  him,  no  one  of  his  wise  men  could 
recall  and  interpret  but  Daniel.  The  "  great  image  "  revealed 
the  future  :  the  four  monarchies  succeeding  each  other  ;  the 
Babylonian,  the  Medo-Persian,  the  Macedo-Grecian,  and  the 
Koman  ;  the  Roman  divided  into  ten  smaller  kingdoms  ;  the 
stone  cut  out  of  the  mountain ;  the  kingdom  set  up  by  the  God 
of  heaven,  which  should  break  in  pieces  and  devour  all  the 
kingdoms  and  stand  forever.  JSIebuchadnezzar  paid  Daniel 
extraordinary  honor,  acknowledging  the  supremacy  of  the  God 
of  Daniel  over  all  gods,  and  making  him  ruler  over  the  whole 
province  of  Babylon,  and  chief  of  the  governors  over  all  the 
wise  men  of  Babylon.  At  his  request,  he  set  his  three  friends 
Shadrach,  Meshach,  and  Abednego  over  the  affairs  of  the 
province  of  Babylon,  but  Daniel  sat  in  the  gate  of  the  king, 
Dan.  ii. 

The  exaltation  of  Daniel  and  his  three  friends,  the  dream, 
and  its  interpretation,  could  but  animate  the  people  of  God, 
strengthen  their  faith,  brighten  their  hopes,  and  bring  them 
into  favorable  consideration  in  the  eyes  of  the  heathen.  God 
was  still  in  the  midst  of  His  people,  and  had  not  cast  them  off, 
neither  would  He  forever.  Well  might  they  say,  "  Glorious 
things  are  spoken  of  thee,  O  Zion,  city  of  our  God." 

The  impressions  made  upon  Nebuchadnezzar  are  transient. 
He  makes,  and  dedicates  with  solemnity  in  a  vast  concourse  of 
the  nobility  and  people  of  his  empire,  his  image  of  gold,  in  the 
plain  of  Dura.  Shadrach,  Meshach,  and  Abednego,  being 
accused  of  not  worshipping  the  image,  confess  the  fact  to  the 
king  and  are  cast  bound  into  the  burning  fiery  furnace. 
"  They  yielded  their  bodies  that  they  might  not  serve  nor 
worship  any  god,  except  their  own  God."  The  heat  of  the 
furnace  slays  the  mighty  men  that  cast  them  in.  Nebuchad- 
nezzar looks  into  the  furnace,  and  astonished  cries  out,  "  Lo  ! 
I  see  four  men  loose  walking  in  the  midst  of  the  fire,  and  they 
have  no  hurt,  and  the  form  of  the  fourth  is  like  the  Son  of 
God  " — a  glorious,  God-like  being !  The  king  believes  that 
divinity  is  there  witli  His  sniTering  innocent  worshippers. 
True,  O  king !    The  Head  of  the  Church  and  the  Saviour  of 


508  THE   niSTOKY   or    THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

His  people  is  with  tliese  martyrs  for  their  present  salvation. 
Nebuchadnezzar  calls  them  to  come  out  and  blesses  their  God, 
the  Most  High  God,  for  their  deliverance  :  "  Therefore,"  said 
he,  "  I  make  a  decree,  that  every  people,  nation,  and  language, 
which  speak  anything  amiss  against  the  God  of  Shadrach, 
Meshach,  and  Abednego,  shall  be  cut  in  pieces,  and  their 
houses  shall  be  made  a  dunghill,  because  there  is  no  god  that 
can  deliver  after  this  sort."  "  Then  the  king  promoted  (con- 
tinued them  in  office,  and  made  them  to  prosper)  Shadrach, 
Meshach,  and  Abednego  in  the  province  of  Babylon,"  Dan.  iii. 
The  grace  of  God,  still  mightily,  as  ever  before,  wrought  in  the 
heart  of  His  elect  Israel,  and  in  the  darkest  hours  of  a  declin- 
ing and  suffering  Church,  "  by  faith  "  enabled  them  "  to  quench 
the  violence  of  fire."  This  amazing  miracle  and  extraordinary 
decree  exalted  the  captive  Israelites,  attracted  attention  to  their 
religion,  and  inspired  them  with  faith  that  they  would  not  be 
consumed  in  the  furnace  of  their  affliction. 

Daniel  interj)rets  a  second  dream  of  ISTebuchadnezzar — the 
dream  of  the  great  tree  ;  and,  in  view  of  the  impending  judg- 
ment, exhorts  him  to  break  off  his  sins  by  righteousness,  and 
his  iniquities  by  showing  mercy  to  the  poor  ;  if  so  "  it  may  be 
a  lengthening  of  thy  tranquillity."  For  one  year  the  long- 
suffering  of  God  waited  upon  the  proud  and  guilty  monarch. 
"  At  the  end  of  the  months,  he  walked  in  the  palace  of  the 
kingdom  of  Babylon :  and  the  king  said,  Is  not  this  great 
Babylon  which  I  have  built  for  the  house  of  the  kingdom,  by 
the  might  of  my  power,  and  for  the  honor  of  my  majesty  ? 
AVhile  the  word  (of  blasphemy)  was  in  the  king's  mouth,  there 
fell  a  voice  from  heaven  saying,  O  king  Nebuchadnezzar,  it  is 
spoken,  The  kingdom  is  departed  from  thee."  He  was  driven 
away  from  men.  At  the  end  of  seven  years  God  restored  him 
to  his  reason  and  to  his  kingdom,  and  the  now  convicted  and 
penitent  monarch  was  under  such  impressions,  that  "  he 
thought  it  good "  to  publish  the  dealings  of  God  with  him 
"  to  all  people,  nations,  and  languages,  that  dwell  in  all  the 
earth."  The  fourth  chapter  of  Daniel  contains  the  royal  proc- 
lamation in  Chaldee,  and  appears  to  be  the  composition  of 
the  king  himself,  copied  out  of  the  archives  of  the  empire,  to 


PKOCLAMATIOTSr   OF    NEBUCHADNEZZAK.  509 

•which,  as  an  officer  in  liigh  position,  he  had  access.  Its  closing 
sentences  breathe  of  subhmity,  and  verses  3-i  and  35,  descrip- 
tive of  the  sovereignty  and  providence  of  God,  are  perhaps  as 
frequently  used  in  the  prayers  of  God's  people  as  any  other 
portion  of  Holy  Scripture.  "  And  at  tlie  end  of  the  days,  I 
Nebuchadnezzar  lifted  up  mine  eyes  unto  heaven,  and  mine 
understanding  retumed  unto  me,  and  I  blessed  the  Most  High, 
and  I  praised  and  honored  Him  that  liveth  forever,  whose 
dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  and  his  kingdom  is  from 
generation  to  generation,  and  all  the  inliabitants  of  tlie  earth 
are  reputed  as  nothing ;  and  He  doeth  according  to  His  will  in 
the  army  of  heaven  and  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  :  and 
none  can  stay  His  hand,  or  say  unto  Him,  What  doest  Thou  ? 
At  the  same  time  my  reason  returned  unto  me ;  and  for  the 
glory  of  my  kingdom,  my  honor  and  brightness  returned  unto 
me,  and  my  counsellors  and  my  lords  sought  unto  me,  and  I  was 
established  in  my  kingdom,  and  excellent  majesty  was  added 
unto  me."  The  close  of  this  proclamation  difters  materially  in 
sentiment  from  the  two  preceding  ones.  In  the  first,  he  highly 
honored  Daniel,  and  confessed,  "  Of  a  truth  it  is,  that  your 
God  is  a  God  of  Gods  and  a  Lord  of  Kings  and  a  revealer  of 
secrets,"  Dan.  ii.  In  the  second,  he  blessed  the  God  of  Sha- 
drach,  Meshach,  and  Abednego  for  delivering  them  out  of  the 
fire,  and  made  a  decree,  binding  his  whole  empire  to  speak 
nothing  amiss  against  tlie  God  of  these  men,  upon  pain  of 
being  cut  in  pieces  and  their  houses  being  made  a  dnnghill, 
Dan.  iii.  ;  but,  in  the  third,  after  his  ]  ersonal  afflictions,  the 
tone  of  the  monarch  is  altered.  God  touched  him  and  humbled 
him  as  low  as  the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  then  mercifully 
restored  him  to  his  former  glory  and  majesty.  He  feels  it  all. 
He  makes  no  loud  professions,  and  no  violent  decree  to  bind 
others,  but  acknowledges  to  the  world  that  he  himself  has 
submitted  to  the  living  and  true  God,  and  has  become  His 
worshipper.  "  Now,  I,  Nebuchadnezzar,"  in  view  of  all  His 
judgments  and  mercies  towards  me,  "  praise  and  extol  the 
God  of  heaven,  all  whose  works  are  truth,  and  His  ways  judg- 
ment ;  and  those  that  walk  in  pride  he  is  able  to  abase." 

Daniel,  referring  to  this  event  some  years  after,  in  the  pres- 


510  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

ence  of  Belsliazzar,  the  son  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  declares  that 
God  deposed  JSTebnchadnezzar  from  his  kingly  throne,  and  took 
his  glory  from  him,  because  his  heart  was  lifted  up,  and  his 
mind  hardened  in  pride — that  the  judgment  of  God  was  kept 
upon  him,  "  until  he  knew  (was  made  to  acknowledge)  that 
the  Most  High  God  ruled  in  the  kingdom  of  men,  and  that  He 
appointeth  over  it  whomsoever  He  would,"  Dan.  v.  The 
inference  is,  that  as  the  king  his  father  had  renounced  idolatry 
and  embraced  the  living  and  true  God,  so  should  Belsliazzar 
his  son  have  done. 

"Was  Nebuchadnezzar,  one  of  the  chief  of  sinners,  made  a 
subject  of  renewing  grace  ?  "Whichever  way  we  decide  the 
question,  the  interposition  of  God  in  behalf  of  His  people  is 
impressively  displayed  in  turning  the  heart  of  the  king  unto 
Himself,  and  causing  him  to  acknowledge  the  God  of  Israel  in 
the  face  "  of.  all  people,  nations,-  and  languages  that  dwell  in 
all  the  earth."  Israel,  with  whom  the  king  worshipped,  must 
have  been  protected  by  him,  and  honored  by  the  people. 
Daniel  doubtless  continued  in  power,  and  in  Nebuchadnezzar's 
favor,  until  the  death  of  that  monarch.  He  appears  again  on 
the  stage  in  the  reigns  of  Belshazzar,  Darius,  and  Cyi'us. 

Jehoiachin,king  of  Judah,  remained  in  prison  while  Nebu- 
chadnezzar lived.  His  son  and  successor,  Evil-Merodach,  in 
the  first  year  of  his  reign,  and  in  the  thirty-seventh  of  Jehoia- 
chin's  captivity,  released  him  from  prison,  advanced  him  above 
all  the  other  kings  then  in  Babylon,  treated  him  with  great 
kindness,  and  made  ample  provision  for  his  support  all  the 
days  of  his  life,  Jer.  lii.  31-34  ;  2  Kings  xxv.  27-30.  We  can- 
not rely  upon  Jewish  traditions,  and  therefore  say  that  the 
reason  of  this  act  is  unknown.  It  may  however  be  suggested 
that  Evil-Merodach,  knowing  the  consideration  in  which  the 
Jews  were  held  by  his  father,  and  the  great  advantages  he  had 
derived  during  his  reign  from  Daniel  and  his  three  friends',  and 
in  the  end  by  reason  of  his  own  profession  of  the  God  of  Israel, 
might  naturally  have  inherited  his  father's  good-will,  and  em- 
braced the  opportunity  of  his  accession  to  pardon  this  prisoner 
of  state,  whose  punishment  for  rebellion  his  father  had  changed 
from  death  to  imprisonment.   This  event  certainly  illustrates  the 


END   OF   THE   LINE   OF   NEBTJCnADNEZZAR.  511 

favor  this  monarch  bore  to  the  people  of  God,  although  there 
is  no  other  mention  made  of  them  during  his  short  reign. 

The  next  king  who  figures  in  the  history  of  the  Church  is 
Belshazzar,  whom  Daniel  calls  the  son  of  JSTebuchadnezzar,  or 
rather  grandson,  Dan.  v.  2  ;  xviii.  22  ;  comp.  Gen.  xxi.  23  ; 
Job  xviii.  19.  At  Belshazzar's  idolatrous  and  impious  feast, 
the  moment  he  defiled  the  gold  and  silver  vessels  of  the  temple, 
and  exulted  over  the  living  and  true  God  in  the  praises  of  his 
own  dumb  idols,  "  the  fingers  of  a  man's  hand  came  forth,  and 
wrote  over  against  the  candlestick  upon  the  plaster  of  the  wall 
of  the  king's  palace,  'Mene,  Mene,  Tekel,  Upharsin.'  "  In  the 
midst  of  the  consternation  that  ensued,  Daniel,  then  resident  in 
Babylon,  is  called  and  interprets  the  handwriting,  and  for  so 
doing  is  proclaimed  third  ruler  in  the  kingdom.  "  In  that 
nio-ht  was  Belshazzar  the  kino-  of  the  Chaldees  slain.  And 
Darius  the  Median  took  the  kingdom,  being  about  three  score 
and  two  years  old,"  Dan.  v.  Daniel,  in  the  first  and  third 
years  of  the  reign  of  this  monarch,  had  his  visions  of  the  four 
beasts,  the  ram,  and  the  he-goat,  Dan.  vii.,  viii.,  which  con- 
tained matter  concerning  the  kingdom  of  God  of  great  encour- 
agement to  His  people  in  their  depressed  condition. 

Belshazzar  was  the  last  of  the  kings  of  the  line  of  Nebu- 
chadnezzar, and  of  the  Babylonian  empire.  The  Israel- 
ties  were  "  to  serve  ISTebuchadnezzar  and  his  sons  until  the 
reign  of  the  kingdom  of  Persia;  to  fulfil  the  word  of  the 
Lord  by  the  mouth  of  Jeremiah ;  to  fulfil  three  score  and 
ten  years."  But  how  many  sons  should  they  serve  ?  Jere- 
miah tells  us  (xxvii.  1-7,  12,  etc.) :  "  All  nations  " — includ- 
ing Judea — "  shall  serve  him  and  his  son  and  his  son's  son, 
until  the  very  time  (of  the  overthrow)  of  his  land  come  :  and 
then  many  nations  and  great  kings  shall  serve  tliemselves  of 
him."  The  death  of  Belshazzar  consequently  took  place 
towards  the  end  of  the  seventy  years  of  the  captivity ;  and  the 
end  of  the  reign  of  Darius  and  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of 
Cyrus  completed  the  term. 

The  character  and  fame  of  the  venerable  Daniel,  now  over 
eighty  years  of  age,  whom  Darius  found  in  tlie  court  of  Bel- 
shazzar, were  not  unknown  to  him.     In  appointing  princes 


512  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD, 

over  the  kingdom,  of  the  three  presidents  to  whom  they  should 
he  accountable,  he  pm-jDOsed  to  make  Daniel  the  chief,  and 
prime  minister  of  the  whole  realm.  Faithful  and  faultless  in 
this  high  trust,  the  envious,  ambitious,  and  malignant  presi- 
dents and  princes  could  "find  no  matter  of  accusation  against 
him,  unless  it  should  be  in  the  matter  of  his  religion.  The 
ridiculous  scheme,  addressed  to  the  vanity  of  the  king,  of  obtain- 
ing a  decree  forbidding  all  persons  to  ask  petitions  of  any  god 
or  man  for  the  space  of  thirty  days,  save  of  the  king  himself, 
upon  pain  of  being  cast  into  the  den  of  lions,  (knowing  for  a 
certainty  that  Daniel  would  not  regard  it,  and  that  they  might 
thereby  destroy  him,)  actually  succeeded !  "  Now,  when 
Daniel  knew  that  the  writing  was  signed,  he  went  into  his 
house ;  and  his  windows  being  open  in  his  chamber  towards 
Jerusalem,  he  kneeled  upon  his  knees  three  times  a  day,  and 
prayed  and  gave  thanks  before  his  God,  as  he  did  aforetime." 
He  was  cast  into  the  den  of  lions.  His  three  friends  in  the 
reign  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  "  by  faith,  had  quenched  the  violence 
of  fire,"  and  now,  "  by  faith,  he  stopped  the  mouths  of  lions," 
Heb.  xi. '32-34.  At  the  king's  command  he  was  taken  up  out 
of  the  den,  and  no  manner  of  hurt  was  found  upon  him 
because  he  believed  in  his  God.  His  accusers,  together  with 
their  wives  and  children,  were  cast  in  and  destroyed.  Darius 
issued  a  decree  to  all  people,  nations,  and  languages,  "  That  in 
every  dominion  of  my  kingdom  men  tremble  and  fear  before 
the  God  of  Daniel :  for  He  is  the  living  God,  and  steadfast 
forever,  and  His  kingdom  that  which  shall  not  be  destroyed, 
and  His  dominion  shall  be  even  unto  the  end.  He  delivereth 
and  rescueth,  and  He  worketh  signs  and  wonders  in  heaven 
and  in  earth,  who  hath  delivered  Daniel  from  the  power  of  the 
lions,"  Dan.  ix,  1-28.  And  so  Daniel  "  prospered  in  the  reign 
of  Darius  and  in  that  of  Cyrus  the  Persian," 

Daniel  had  patiently  waited  the  rolling  away  of  the  seventy 
years  of  captivity  predicted  by  Jeremiah ;  and  in  the  first  year 
of  Darius,  upon  the  study  of  that  prophet,  he  understood  that 
the  years  were  drawing  to  a  close  ;  that  it  became  the  people 
of  God  to  return  unto  Him  by  humble  repentance,  and  with 
fervent  supplications  to  beseech  the  Lord  to  fulfil  His  word, 


CYEUS  DECREES  THE  KETUEN  OF  THE  JEWS.       513 

and  prepare  them  for  His  mercy,  Jcr.  xxix.  10-14 ;  Dan.  ix. 
Said  lie,  "  I  set  my  face  unto  the  Lord  God,  to  seek  by  prayer 
and  supplication,  with  fasting,  and  sack-clotli,  and  ashes  :  and 
while  I  was  speaking,  and  praying,  and  confessing  my  sin  and 
the  sin  of  my  people  Israel,  and  presenting  my  supplications 
before  the  Lord  my  God  for  the  holy  mountain  of  my  God, 
about  the  time  of  the  evening  oblation,  the  angel  Gabriel 
touched  me  and  talked  with  me."  His  prayer  was  answered, 
and  the  prophecy  concerning  the  return,  and  the  coming  of  our 
Lord — the  prophecy  of  the  seventy  weeks,  or  four  hundred  and 
ninety  years, — was  given  to  liim  ;  in  which  are  the  following  par- 
ticulars :  1.  A  commandment  should  go  forth  for  the  return  of 
the  people  and  for  the  rebuilding  of  Jerusalem.  2.  The  long- 
expected  Messiah,  the  Prince,  should  come  sixty-nine  weeks 
from  the  rebuilding  of  the  walls  and  settlement  of  Jerusalem. 
3.  Li  the  seventieth  week  He  should  be  cut  off,  but  not  for 
himself,  but  for  His  people  ;  and,  by  the  one  offering  of  Him- 
self, should  make  reconciliation  for  iniquity,  bringing  in  ever- 
lasting righteousness,  doing  away  with  all  typical  sacrifices, 
sealing  up  in  fulfilment  vision  and  prophecy  respecting  him- 
self, and  making  an  end  of  the  dispensation  which  looked  for- 
ward to  His  advent.  4.  Finally,  after  His  advent  and  death, 
a  people  should  come  and  destroy  city,  temple,  and  sacrifice, 
and  break  up  the  civil  state  of  the  Church  forever.  This  is 
the  first  prophecy  that  fixes  the  time  of  our  Lord's  appearing, 
and  of  the  end  of  the  civil  constitution  of  the  Church  of  God, 
Dan.  ix.  1-27. 

Darius  the  Mede  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew  Cyrus  the 
Persian,  and  Daniel  prospered  in  his  reign.  Through  his 
agency,  we  must  believe,  the  Lord  stirred  up  the  sj^irit  of 
Cyrus  to  issue  his  decree  for  the  return  of  the  Jews  to  their 
own  country ;  for  with  a  heart  deeply  interested  in  the  welfare 
of  Zion,  Daniel  could  not  fail  to  acquaint  the  king,  whose  face 
he  saw,  with  the  fact  of  the  fast-expiring  days  of  the  captivity, 
and  of  the  prophecy  that  went  before  concerning  him — even 
over  one  hundred  years  before  he  was  born — delivered  byj 
Isaiah,  wherein  his  name  is  mentioned.  He  appointed  the 
servant  of  the  Most  High  to  cause  His  people  to  return  to 
33 


514  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

their  own  laud,  and  at  the  ordained  hour.  Cyrus  issued  his 
decree  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign,  B.  C.  536,  fifty-two  years 
after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  seventy  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  captivity,  B.  C.  606.  He  acknowledges  it  to 
be  an  act  of  obedience  on  his  part  to  the  command  of  God 
addressed  to  him.  "  Thus  saith  Cyrus  king  of  Persia,  The 
Lord  God  of  heaven  hath  given  me  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
earth  ;  and  He  hath  charged  me  to  build  Him  a  house  at 
Jerusalem,  which  is  in  Judah,  Who  is  there  among  you  of  all 
His  people  ?  his  God  be  with  him,  and  let  him  go  up  to  Jeru- 
salem, which  is  in  Judah,  and  build  the  house  of  the  Lord  God 
of  Israel,  (He  is  the  God,)  which  is  in  Jerusalem.  And  who- 
soever remaineth  in  any  place  where  he  sojourneth,  let  the 
men  of  his  place  help  him  with  silver,  and  with  gold,  and  with 
goods,  and  with  beasts,  besides  the  free-will  offering  for  the 
house  of  God  that  is  in  Jerusalem,"  Ezra  i.  1-4 ;  2  Chron. 
xxxvi.  22-23  ;  Jer.  xxv.  12  ;  xxix.  10  ;  Isa.  xliv.  28  ;  xlv- 
1-13  ;  Ezra  v.  1-17. 

Daniel  witnessed  the  return  of  the  first  caravan  of  people 
and  heard  of  the  laying  of  the  foundations  of  the  second  tem- 
ple. In  the  third  year  of  Cyrus,  he  delivered  his  last  prophecy, 
Dan.  x.,  xi.,  xii.  ;  and  with  the  close  of  his  book  all  informa- 
tion of  him  ceases.  He  was  very  old,  (over  ninety  years,)  and 
must  have  died  in  his  office  at  court.  With  Daniel  died  the 
prophetic  office  in  the  land  of  captivity.  He  had  no  successor. 
To  the  remnant  of  the  twelve  tribes,  numerous  as  they  may 
have  been,  the  Lord  granted  no  continuance  of  prophets.  His 
special  interpositions  in  their  favor  in  this  form  reached  only 
to  the  time  of  the  ceasing  of  the  people  to  return  to  Judea. 
The  prophets  went  back  w^ith  the  Church  to  her  own  land. 
Many  of  the  Israelites  that  remained  mingled  with  the  heathen 
iu  various  countries  and  disappeared.  Many,  adhering  to  the 
worship  of  God,  retaining  His  Holy  Word,  communicating 
from  time  to  time  with  Jerusalem  by  going  up  to  the  feasts 
and  sacrifices,  and  maintaining  their  synagogue  worship  and 
circumcision  wherever  they  dwelt,  kept  themselves  distinct 
from  the  heathen,  and  continued  down  to  the  advent  of  our 
-Lord,  and   long   after,    constituting   a  part   of  "  the   disper- 


REMARKS   ON   THE    CAPTrVITY.  515 

sion  " — "  the  twelve  tribes  scattered  abroad."  The  dispersion 
was  also  increased  and  made  wider  by  the  scattering  of  Israel- 
ites into  all  lands,  iu  consequence  of  the  numerous  wars  that 
succeeded  the  return,  of  forcible  removals  out  of  Judea,  and  of 
voluntary  emigration  for  purposes  of  peace  and  trade.  Great 
numbers  lived  out  of  Palestine,  Acts  ii.  1-11 ;  John  vii.  35  ; 
James  i.  1 ;  1  Pet.  i.  1 ;  Acts  xxi.  21. 

Of  the  captivity  now  brought  to  a  close,  it  may  be  re- 
marked, first :  tliat  it  was  predicted  by  Moses  more  than 
eight  hundred  years  before  its  occurrence,  Deut.  xxviii.  1-37  ; 
Levit.  xxvi.  1-46  ;  and  subsequently  by  other  prophets  living 
nearer  the  event,  such  as  Hosca,  (i.-xiv.,)  Amos,  (v.-ix.,) 
Micah,  (i.-ii.,)  Isaiah,  and  Jeremiah,  (various  chapters,)  Zeplia- 
niah,  (iii.,)  Habakkuk,  (i.-iii,,)  and  by  Ezekiel  and  Daniel, — 
and  demonstrates  the  foreordi nation  of  God.  Second  :  that  all 
the  heathen  nations  employed  in  executing  this  decree  of  the 
captivity  and  everything  relating  thereto,  did  so  freely,  but 
with  pride,  ambition,  cruelty,  and  in  the  name  of  their  own 
false  gods,  rendering  themselves  obnoxious  to  the  wrath  of 
God  which  fell  upon  and  destroyed  them  Que  after  another, 
(of  which  destruction  they  were  warned  of  God,)  while  the 
Church  was  preserved,  and  survived  them  all.  Thus  the  his- 
tory interprets  the  true  meaning  of  the  Prophet  Zechariah, 
when  he  says,  (xii.  3,)  "  And  in  that  day  will  I  make  Jerusa- 
lem a  burdensome  stone  for  all  people  :  all  that  burden  them- 
selves with  it  shall  be  cut  in  pieces,  though  all  the  people  of 
the  earth  be  gathered  together  against  it."  Third  :  Moses 
declared  also  what  would  be  the  cause  of  the  captivity  :  "  It 
shall  come  to  pass,  if  thou  wilt  not  hearken  unto  the  voice  of 
the  Lord  thy  God  to  observe  to  do  all  His  commandments  and 
His  statutes  which  I  command  thee  this  day,  that  all  these 
curses "  (the  captivity  included)  "  shall  come  upon  thee 
and  overtake  thee,"  Deut.  xxviii. ;  Levit.  xxvi.  This  warn- 
ing was  repeated  in  numerous  warnings  and  exhortations 
by  the  succeeding  prophets.  Fourth :  the  design  of  the 
captivity  was  threefold :  1.  To  purge  away  the  dross  from 
the  Church,  even  the  mass  of  fonnalists,  apostates,  and  idola- 
ters.    Thus  saith  the  Lord,  "  Ye  shall  have  no  power  to  stand 


516         THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHUKCH  OF  GOD. 

before  your  enemies  :  and  ye  shall  perish  among  the  heathen  ; 
and  the  land  of  yonr  enemies  shall  eat  you  up.  And  they  that 
are  left  of  you  shall  pine  away  in  your  iniquities  and  in  the 
iniquities  of  your  fathers  in  your  enemies'  land,"  Levit.  xxvi. 
37-39.  2.  To  purif}'-  and  sanctify  His  elect  ones,  who  adhered 
to  Him,  together  with  their  seed  and  those  connected  with 
them.  Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  necessity  was  laid  upon  the 
Lord  to  send  His  peoi^le  into  captivity,  as  the  only  means  left 
whereby  to  preserve  His  Church  from  utter  apostasy  and  ruin  ; 
for  such  a  supposition  limits  the  power  of  the  Most  High  God, 
the  Almighty  Redeemer  of  Israel,  and  overlooks  the  mission 
and  omnipotence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  Lord  could  have 
multiplied  and  strengthened  His  people,  given  them  the  victory 
over  their  foes,  and  kept  them  permanently  in  their  own  land. 
By  pouring  out  His  Spirit  constantly  and  universally,  as  He 
did  occasionally  and  partially,  H-e  might  have  preserved  His 
elect  in  the  ascendency,  effectually  checked  the  growth  and 
destroyed  the  power  of  sin  and  idolatry,  and  removed  away 
the  stroke  of  so  severe  a  judgment.  But  such  was  not  His 
purpose.  For  reasons  beyond  our  comprehension  He  adopted 
a  different  course,  and  in  the  end  selected  the  affliction  of  the 
captivity  in  preference  to  any  and  every  other.  Nor  could  the 
captivity  in  itself  accomplish  the  preservation  of  true  religion 
and  the  purification  of  the  Church,  but  it  was  God  Himself  who 
sanctified  this  means  of  His  own  selection  to  the  attainment 
of  these  blessed  ends.  The  captivity  was  best  because  He 
ordained  it,  and  it  was  one  of  His  judgments,  which  are  a 
great  deep.  "  Even  so  Father  :  for  so  it  seemed  good  in  thy 
sight."  The  dross  was  purged  away  and  the  fine  gold  pm'i- 
fied ;  the  people  confessed  their  sins  and  the  sins  of  their 
fathers,  and  returned  unto  the  Lord  ;  for  He  poured  out  His 
Spirit  upon  them,  and  prepared  them  for  the  blessing.  As 
Ezra  expresses  it :  "  Then  rose  up  all  whose  sj^irit  God  had 
raised  to  go  up,"  (i.  5.)  As  they  cried  unto  the  Lord  in  their 
bondage  in  Egypt,  and  were  heard  and  delivered,  so  now  they 
cried  in  their  captivity  in  Babylon,  and  the  Lord  heard  and 
returned  them  to  their  land  again,  fulfilling  His  own  promise 
made  before  to  His  people  by  the  mouth  of  Jeremiah,  (xxix. 


KEMAKKS   ON   THE   CAPTIVITY.  517 

10-14.)  "  For  thus  saitli  the  Lord,  that  after  seventy  years 
be  accomplished  at  Babylon,  I  will  visit  you  and  perform  my 
good  word  toward  you  in  causing  you  to  return  to  this  place  : 
for  I  know  the  thoughts  that  I  think  towards  you,  saith  the 
Lord :  thoughts  of  peace  and  not  of  evil,  to  give  you  an  ex- 
pected end.  Then  ye  shall  call  upon  me,  and  ye  shall  go  and 
pray  unto  me,  and  I  will  hearken  unto  you,  and  ye  shall  seek 
rae  and  find  me  when  ye  shall  search  for  me  with  your  whole 
heart,  and  I  will  be  found  of  you,  saith  the  Lord  :  and  I  will 
turn  away  your  captivity,"  "  and  I  will  bring  you  again  unto 
the  place  whence  I  caused  you  to  be  carried  away  captive." 
3.  To  do  good  to  the  heathen,  not  indeed  generally  and  per- 
manently, but  in  particular  instances,  and  for  a  season.  ITor 
can  it  be  known  how  extensively  a  knowledge  of  the  religion, 
laws,  and  customs  of  the  people  of  God  may  liave  been  dis- 
seminated, producing  material  modifications  and  changes  in 
the  religious  and  civil  state  of  the  heathen  world,  and  all  for 
the  better.  The  Church  remained  for  many  centuries  in 
Judea  a  light  to  surrounding  nations,  and  in  the  captivity  car- 
ried much  of  that  light  with  her.  Mark  the  dealings  of  God 
with  the  heathen  through  the  instrumentality  of  His  people. 
He  prepared  the  way  for  the  favorable  reception  of  the  cap- 
tives by  sending  Jonah  to  Nineveh,  and  blessing  his  preach- 
ings to  the  reformation  and  salvation  of  that  great  city.  Tlie 
predictions  of  the  prophets  against  Egypt,  Edom,  Moab,  Tyre, 
Sidon,  Assyria,  and  Babylon,  when  communicated  to  those 
nations,  could  but  arrest  attention,  and  originate  respect  for 
the  people  from  whence  they  came.  Daniel,  through  his  long 
and  consistent  life  in  the  court  of  the  kings  of  Babylon,  pub- 
lishing his  predictions,  openly  worshipping  the  true  God,  ad- 
hering to  His  Holy  "Word,  interpreting  dreams  and  visions, 
and  reproving  kings  ;  the  miraculous  deliverance  of  his  three 
friends  from  the  furnace  of  fire  ;  the  falling  of  the  threatened 
judgment  of  God  upon  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  his  decree  in 
favor  of  the  living  and  true  God  ;  the  handwriting  upon  the 
wall,  and  Daniel's  interpretation  ;  the  death  of  Belshazzar  for 
his  impiety  towards  God  ;  the  salvation  of  Daniel  out  of  the 
lion's  den,  and  the  decree  of  Darius  ;  the  knowledge  of  Cyrus 


518  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

of  his  appointment  by  the  Lord  to  restore  His  people,  his 
decree,  and  presents  to  tliat  end — to  whicli  we  may  add  the 
character  and  influence  of  Ezra  the  scribe,  the  residence  of 
]^ehemiah  in  the  court  of  the  king,  the  miraculous  intei-posi- 
tion  of  God  (we  can  call  it  nothing  else)  in  the  preservation  of 
the  life  of  Esther  and  Mordecai,  the  salvation  of  the  Jews  from 
general  massacre,  their  favorable  consideration  throughout  the 
empire,  and  the  mingling  of  the  Jews  among  the  idolaters, 
maintaining  a  religion  and  a  morality  diverse  and  superior  to 
their  own, — all  these  impressive  events  conld  not  fail  to  do 
sood  to  the  heathen  world. 

The  captivity  was  a  dreadful  judgment  upon  the  Church, 
Her  sad  condition,  yet  iixed  trust  in  God,  the  writer  of  the 
13Tth  Psalm  aifectingly  describes  :  "  By  the  rivers  of  Baby- 
lon, there  we  sat  down,  yea,  we  wept  when  we  remembered 
Zion.  We  hanged  onr  harj)s  njwn  the  willows  in  the  midst 
thereof.  For  they  tliat  carried  "us  away  captive  required  of  us 
a  song  ;  and  they  that  wasted  ns  required  of  us  mirth,  saying. 
Sing  ns  one  of  the  songs  of  Zion.  How  shall  we  sing  the 
Lord's  song  in  a  strange  land  ?  If  I  forget  thee,  O  Jerusalem, 
let  my  right  hand  forget  her  cunning.  If  I  do  not  remember 
thee,  let  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth  :  if  I  pre- 
fer not  Jerusalem  above  my  chief  joy.  Kemember,  O  Lord,  the 
children  of  Edom  in  the  day  of  Jerusalem  ;  who  said.  Rase  it, 
rase  it,  even  to  the  foundation  tliereof.  O  daughter  of  Baby- 
lon, who  art  to  be  destroyed  ;  happy  shall  he  be  that  reward- 
eth  thee  as  thou  hast  served  us.  Happy  shall  he  be  that 
taketh  and  dasheth  thy  little  ones  against  the  stones,"  Haman 
accused  the  Israelites  of  having  "  laws  diverse  from  all  jjeople, 
neither  keep  they  the  king's  laws."  The  latter  part  of  the 
accusation  is  false,  and  the  former  true.  In  their  laws,  civil 
and  ecclesiastical,  they  did  dijQFer  from  all  other  people.  As  the 
crafty  enemy  observed  this,  it  sheds  some  light  upon  the  civil 
and  religious  condition  of  the  Israelites  in  their  captivity,  and 
shows  that  they  governed  themselves  according  to  their  own 
civil  laws,  so  far  as  it  could  be  done  without  interfering  with 
the  laws  of  the  empire  ;  and  that  they  freely  exercised  their 
religion,  so  far  as  that  was  possible  in  their  absence  from  tlieir 


JOY   OF   THE   CHUKCH.  619 

own  land,  their  temple  and  its  sacrifices  and  services.  Tliey 
did  not  sacrifise  in  the  captivity,  and  never  did  in  '*  the  dis- 
persion," while  the  temple  stood.  Yet  they  worshipped  God 
privately  and  in  their  families,  Dan.  vi.  10-11 ;  ix.  1-3  ;  and 
socially  and  publicly,  Zech.  vii.  4-7  ;  Ezra  viii.  21-23.  They 
held  fasts,  circumcised  and  trained  their  children,  kept  the 
sabbath  day,  preserved  their  genealogies,  Ezra  ii.,  viii. ;  Neh. 
vii. ;  possessed  the  AYord  of  God,  and  enjoyed  the  ministry  of 
prophets,  Ezekiel  and  Daniel,  to  whom  they  resorted  for  in- 
struction, Ezek.  viii.  1 ;  xiv.  1 ;  xxxiii.  30-33.  They  had  tbe 
ministry  also  of  the  high-priest,  and  of  many  priests  and 
Levites,  Ezra  i.  5  ;  ii.  61-63  ;  vii.  1-10  ;  viii.  1-20  ;  ITeh.  xii. 
But  the  seventy  years  passed  away.  The  decree  of  Cyrus 
assured  the  people  that  the  day  of  their  redemption  had  come. 
The  glorious  news  spread  from  lip  to  lip  throughout  the  em- 
pire, and  the  writer  of  the  126th  Psalm  gives  expression  to  the 
universal  joy  :  "  When  the  Lord  turned  again  the  captivity  of 
Zion,  we  were  like  them  that  dream.  Then  was  our  mouth 
filled  with  laughtei-,  and  our  tongue  witb  singing  :  then  said 
they  among  the  heathen,  The  Lord  hath  done  great  things  for 
them.  The  Lord  hath  done  great  things  for  us,  whereof  we 
are  glad.  Turn  again  our  captivity,  O  Lord,  as  the  streams 
in  the  south.  They  that  sow  in  tears  shall  reap  in  joy.  He 
that  goeth  forth  and  wecpeth,  bearing  precious  seed,  shall 
doubtless  come  again  with  rejoicing,  bearing  his  sheaves  with' 
him."  Isaiah  also  describes  the  return,  and  puts  a  song  of 
praise  into  the  mouth  of  the  remnant  of  Israel,  Isa.  x.  20-23  ; 
xi.  10-16  ;  xii.  1-6. 

The  movement  for  a  return  commenced  M'ithout  delay,  and 
first  and  chiefly  among  the  tribes  last  carried  into  captivity, 
Judah,  Benjamin,  and  Levi.  Their  leaders  were  their  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  rulers  and  guides,  namely,  the  chief  of  the  fathers, 
the  priests,  and  Levites,  to  whom  were  joined  "  all  whose 
spirit  God  had  raised  to  go  up  to  build  the  house  of  the  Lord 
which  is  in  Jenisalem."  Zerubbabel,  grandson  of  king  Jehoi- 
achin,  (whose  Chaldean  name  was  Sheshbazzar,)  was  ap- 
pointed governor  of  Judea,  and  Jeshua,  the  son  of  Jozadack, 
the  high-priest,  was  associated  with  him.    Their  brethren  who 


520  THE    HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF    GOD. 

did  not  go  up,  favored  the  enterprise  by  contributing  liberally 
to  their  outfit,  and  forwarding  presents  to  the  house  of  the 
Lord.  All  the  people  enjoyed  the  support  of  the  literal  fulfil- 
ment of  the  prophecy  of  Jeremiah  concerning  the  vessels  of  the 
house  of  the  Lord  :  xxvii.  21-22.  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  of 
Hosts  the  God  of  Israel  concerning  the  vessels  that  remain  in 
the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  in  the  house  of  the  king  of  Judah 
and  of  Jerusalem  :  they  shall  be  carried  to  Babylon,  and  there 
shall  they  be  until  the  day  that  I  visit  them,  saith  the  Lord  : 
then  will  I  bring  them  up  and  restore  them  to  this  place." 
Five  thousand  four  hundred  of  these  vessels  of  gold  and  silver 
Cyrus  took  out  of  the  house  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  gods,  and 
delivered  them  to  Sheshbazzar,  the  prince  of  Judah,  to  be  car- 
ried up  to  Jerusalem  !  Ezra  i.  1-11.  The  whole  congregation 
of  this  first  caravan  was  42,360,  besides  their  servants  and 
their  maids  (Y,337) ;  amounting  in  all  to  49,697.  If  (instead  of 
including)  we  add  "  200  singing  men  and  singing  women,"  the 
total  will  be  49,897  persons.  For  the  transportation  of  persons, 
prop.erty,  and  provisions,  there  were  736  horses,  245  mules, 
435cauiels,  and  6,720  asses — a  total  of  8,136  beasts  of  burden, 
Ezra  ii.  1-70. 

This  large  caravan  reached  Judea  in  safety,  and  having 
sought  out  their  own  cities,  and  procured  homes  and  shelter, 
without  delay,  in  the  seventh  month  of  the  same  year,  the 
people  being  called,  came  as  one  man  to  Jerusalem,  and  upon 
its  old  foundation  built  the  altar  of  the  Lord  which  had  been 
overthrown  at  the  destruction  of  the  temple  ;  and  on  the  first 
day  of  the  month  set  up  the  worship  of  God.  From  that  day 
forth  the  priests  lodged  in  the  city,  ministering  in  their  office, 
offering  the  daily  sacrifices,  and  sacrifices  of  every  kind  ac- 
cording to  the  law,  and  thither  the  people  came  to  worship  as 
aforetime !  The  assembly  stood  amidst  the  desolations  of 
Mount  Zion  ;  and  the  silence  of  the  holy  city,  which  lay  in 
grass-grown  ruins  around  them,  was  once  more  broken  with 
the  voice  of  prayer  and  praise.  The  long-extinguished  holy 
fires  were  rekindled,  and  the  smoke  of  their  sacrifices  ascended 
gratefully  to  heaven.  Nearly  the  wliole  month  was  spent  in 
religious  services,  which  were  finally  closed  by  the  celebration 


KEBUILDING  THE   TEMPLE.  521 

of  the  feast  of  tabernacles,  Ezra  iii.  1-6.  Measures  were  also 
entered  into  to  rebuild  the  temple,  whose  size  Cyras  liad  de- 
fined, and  said,  "  let  the  expenses  be  given  out  of  the  king's 
house,"  Ezra  vi.  1-5,  out  of  the  revenues  of  the  kingdom  col- 
lected "  on  this  side  the  river,"  to  which  more  particular  refer- 
ence is  made  in  the  decree  of  Darius,  wliich  was  a  re-enact- 
ment of  tliat  of  Cyi'us,  (vs.  6-13.)  Tlie  royal  contribution — an 
act  of  distinguished  liberality  and  kindness — was,  however,  not 
sufficient,  and  the  people  addressed  themselves  to  the  work. 
'•  Some  of  the  chiefs  of  the  fathers  "  offered  freely  for  the 
iiouse  of  God  to  set  it  up  in  His  place.  "  They  gave  of  their 
ability,"  (wrote  the  treasurer  of  the  work,)  "  threescore  and  one 
tliousand  drams  of  gold,  and  five  thousand  pounds  of  silver, 
and  one  hundred  priests'  garments.  The  Tirshatha  or  gov- 
ernor made  a  magnificent  donation  "  of  a  thousand  drams  of 
gold,  fifty  basins,  and  five  hundred  and  thirty  priests'  gar- 
ments," 'Neh.  vii.  TO-72  ;  Ezra  ii.  68-70.  The  people  also  con- 
tributed money  to  purchase  materials  for  the  building  and  to  pay 
the  workmen.  As  in  the  erection  of  the  first  temple,  so  in  the 
erection  of  the  second,  they  employed  the  Zidonians  and  Tyrians 
to  procure  cedar  trees,  and  deliver  them  at  Joppa,  the  port  of 
Jerusalem,  Ezra  iii.  1-7  ;  comp.  Keh.  vii.  In  their  zeal  the 
work  was  hastened,  for  in  seven  months  after,  in  the  second 
month  of  the  second  year  of  their  return,  they  were  again 
assembled  at  Jerusalem  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  second 
temple — the  first  temple  having  been  destroyed  thirty-two 
years  before.  Zerubbabel  the  governor,  the  high-priest  Jeshua, 
and  all  the  priests  and  Levites  were  present.  When  the  build- 
ers laid  the  foundation,  the  priests  in  their  apparel  sounded 
with  their  trumpets,  and  the  sons  of  Asaph  struck  their  cym- 
bals to  praise  the  Lord  :  "  They  sang  together  by  course,  in 
praising  and  giving  thanks  unto  the  Lord,  because  He  is  good, 
for  His  mercy  endureth  forever  toward  Israel.  And  all  the 
people  shouted  with  a  great  shout,  when  they  praised  the 
Lord,  because  the  foundation  of  the  liouse  of  the  Lord  was 
laid."  But  many  of  the  old  men,  of  the  priests,  Levites,  and 
chiefs  of  the  fathers  who  had  seen  the  first  house,  when  the 
foundation  of  this  house  was  laid,  wept  with  a  loud  voice  at 


522  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHTECU   OF    GOD. 

the  remembrance  of  the  departed  blessings  and  glory  of  Israel 
— of  past  transgressions  and  weighty  judgments.  They  were 
deeply  affected  by  the  diminished  and  inferior  materials  for 
the  building,  the  mournful  desolations,  and  the  sight  of  the 
feeble  remnant  now  gathered  around  them.  "The  people 
could  not  discern  the  noise  of  the  shout  of  joy  from  the  noise  of 
the  weeping  of  the  people."  Yet  their  joy  exceeded,  "  for 
the  people  shouted  with  a  loud  shout  and  the  noise  was  heard 
afar  off,"  Ezra  iii.  8-13. 

The  offer  of  the  Samaritans  to  unite  with  Israel  in  the 
work  and  service  of  God  was  repelled  by  the  governor,  the 
chief  priest,  and  rulers  of  Israel :  "  Ye  have  nothing  to  do  with 
us  to  build  a  house  unto  our  God  :  but  we  ourselves  together 
will  build  unto  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  as  king  Cyrus,  the  king 
of  Persia,  hath  commanded  us."  The  incensed  Samaritans 
instantly  commenced  a  spirited  opposition,  and  succeeded  both 
in  Judea  and  in  Persia  in  troubling  the  people,  so  that  tlie 
work  went  slowly  on,  and  finally  ceased  altogether  for  four- 
teen 3^ears,  until  the  second  year  of  the  reign  of  Darius,  king 
of  Persia,  Ezra  iv.  1-24.  The  kings  who  reigned  between 
Cyrus  and  Darius  (Hystaspes),  were  Cambyses  (the  son  of 
Cyrus)  and  Smerdis  (the  Magician).  Hence  it  is  supposed, 
if  the  account  of  the  opposition  recorded  in  Ezra  iv.  1-24  is 
follo^ved — and  which  covers  the  reigns  of  these  two  kings — 
that  the  Ahasuerus  mentioned  in  the  sixth  verse,  is  Cambyses, 
and  the  Artaxerxes  of  the  seventh  verse  is  Smerdis.  The  ene- 
mies writing  to  Artaxerxes  (xxv.  7-23)  speak  of  the  Israel- 
ites building  the  city  and  the  walls  ;  but  Ezra  in  ch.  iv.  vs.  24, 
limits  their  language  to  the  work  of  the  house  of  God  in  par- 
ticular. 

During  the  suspension  of  the  work,  the  people  worshipped 
at  Jerusalem,  devoted  themselves  to  their  temporal  interests, 
accumulated  property,  dwelt  in  their  ceiled  houses,  and  put 
off  for  more  propitious  times  the  building  of  the  Lord's  house. 
The  Lord  cuts  short  their  labor,  and  afflicts  the  land  with 
drought,  yet  they  turn  not  until  His  prophets  Haggai  and 
Zechariah  reprove  them  and  command  them  to  renew  the 
building  of  the  temple,  Ezra  v.  1 ;  Hag.  i.  1-11.     Their  faith- 


HAGGAI   AND   ZECHARIAH.  523 

ful  ministry  Avas  sanctified.     Zerubbabel,  Jeshua,  and  all  the 
remnant  of  the  peoj)le  being  stirred  up  in  spirit  by  the  Lord, 
came  in  the  sixth  month  and  second  year  of  Darius,  and  did 
the  work  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts  their  God,  Ezra  v. 
2  ;  Hag.  i.  12-14.     One  month  after  they  had  returned  to 
their  duty,  Haggai  was  sent  to   encourage  them  with  the 
assurance,  that  although  the  present  house  in  comparison  with 
the  glory  of  the  first  was  "  as  nothing,"  yet  were  they  the 
same  covenant  people  of  the  Lord  that  He  brought  out  of 
Egypt ;  His  presence  and  His  Spirit  remained  with  them,  and 
the  glory  of  this  latter  house  should  be  greater  than  the  glory 
of  the  former  house  ;  for  at  the  appointed  time  "the  Desire  of 
all  Nations,"  the  long-expected  Messiah  "  should  come  "  to  this 
temple,  and  be  the  glory  of  it,  far  excelling  all  glory  that  went 
before,  and  give  peace  to  His  people.     "  The  Desire  of  all 
I^ations  shall  come,  and  I  will  fill  this  house  with  glory,  saith 
the  Lord  of  Hosts.     The  glory  of  this  latter  house  shall  be 
greater  than  of  the  former,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  and  in  this 
place  will  I  give  peace,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,"  (Hag.  ii. 
1-9.)     Therefore,  saith  God,  "  Be  strong."     Zechariah  (i.  1-6) 
followed   Haggai    with  warnings  and    exhortations,  and  he 
again,  a  month  after,  was  followed  by  Haggai,  who  promises 
to  the  obedient  people  a  deliverance  from  their  afiiictions  of 
drought,  blasting,  mildew,  and  hail ;  yea,  from  the  day  they 
resumed  their  work.     "  From  this  day,"  saith  the  Lord,  "  will 
I  bless  you,"  Hag.  ii.  10-22.     Both  Haggai   and   Zechariah 
made  special  promises  also  to  Zerubbabel.     God  made  him 
"  as  a  signet,"  and  said  to  him,  "  Not  by  might  nor  by  power, 
but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.     Who  art   thou, 
O  great  mountain  ?     Before  Zerubbabel  thou  shalt  become  a 
plain :  and  he  shall  bring  forth  the  headstone  thereof  with 
shoutings,  crying,  Grace,  grace  unto   it."      "  The  hands   of 
Zerubbabel  have  laid  the  foundation  of  this  house  :    his  hands 
shall  also  finish  it,"  Zech.  iv.  1-9.     Zechariah  further  encour- 
aged the  people  by  his  prophecy  of  Christ,  under  the  name  of 
"  the  Branch,"  coming  to  build  the  temple  of  the  Lord  :  "  Pie 
shall  sit  and  rule  a  j^riest  upon  His  throne,"  Zech.  vi.  9-13. 
The  enemies  of  the  Jews  were  foiled  in  a  second  attempt  to 


524  THE   HISTOET   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF    GOD. 

arrest  the  building  of  the  temple  ;  for,  upon  application  being 
made  to  Darius  the  king,  after  investigation,  he  discovered 
and  renewed  the  decree  of  Cyrus,  and  commanded  Tatnai  the 
governor  and  the  enemies  of  the  Jews  to  cease  their  opposi- 
tion, to  aid  in  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  building,  and  to 
supply  animals  and  articles  for  sacrifice.  He  also  commanded 
the  Israelites  to  "  pray  for  the  life  of  the  king  and  of  his  sons," 
Ezra  V.  1-lY  ;  vi.  1-13. 

The  temple  commenced  in  the  second  year  of  Cyrus, 
(B.  C.  535,)  was  completed  just  twenty  years  after,  in  the  sev- 
enth year  of  Darius,  (B.  C.  515,)  and  was  joyfully  dedicated 
with  seven  hundred  sacrifices  of  bullocks,  rams,  and  lambs,  and 
a  special  ofieriug  "  for  all  Israel  of  twelve  he-goats,  according 
to  the  number  of  the  tribes  of  Israel."  The  priests  were  set  in 
their  divisions  and  the  Levites  in  their  courses,  "  as  it  is  writ- 
ten in  the  law  of  Moses."  The"  second  temple  was  built  after 
the  pattern  of  the  first,  as  perfectly  as  the  reduced  circum- 
stances of  the  people  permitted ;  but  the  Holy  of  Holies  no 
longer  contained  the  original  ark  of  the  covenant,  having 
within  the  tables  of  the  law,  the  pot  of  manna,  and  Aaron's 
rod  ;  and  above  it  the  mercy-seat,  overshadowed  by  the  cheru- 
bims;  and  the  Shekinah,  the  visible  glory  of  God,  dwelling 
between  the  cherubims.  ISTor  at  the  dedication,  as  in  that  of 
the  first  temple,  did  the  glory  of  God  fill  the  house  ;  nor  did 
the  fire  of  God  fall  from  heaven  and  consume  the  sacrifice  on 
the  altar  ;  and  nothing  more  is  heard  of  the  use  of  the  myste- 
rious Urim  and  Thummim.  The  dedication  being  over,  all 
Israel  observed  the  passover  for  seven  days,  and  once  more  the 
temple  was  opened  for  the  worship  of  God,  which  was  to  stand 
until  Shiloh  should  come. 

Josephus  afiirms  that  Xerxes  the  Great  confirmed  to  the 
Israelites  all  the  privileges  granted  them  by  his  father  Darius. 
He  was  succeeded  on  the  throne  by  Artaxerxes,  his  third  son, 
called  Longimanus,  B.  C.  464,  who  is  the  Artaxerxes  men- 
tioned by  Ezra,  vii.  1.  He  is  also  the  king  Ahasuerus  of 
Esther,  who,  in  the  third  year  of  his  reign,  divorced  his  queen 
Vashti  at  the  feast  which  he  gave  to  the  power  of  Media  and 
Persia,  to  the  nobles  and  princes  of  the  one  hundred  and  twen- 


EZRA   AS   GOVERNOR.  525 

ty-seven  provinces  of  his  empire,  Esther  i.  1-22  ;  ii.  1-15.  At 
the  close  of  the  sixth  year  of  his  reign,  (B.  C.  458,)  lie  ap- 
pointed Ezra  the  priest — a  ready  scribe  in  the  law  of  Moses — 
governor  over  Judea  :  "  granting  him  all  his  requests,  accord- 
ing to  the  hand  of  the  Lord  his  God  upon  him,"  On  the  first 
day  of  the  first  month  of  the  seventh  year  of  his  reign,  Ezra 
began  to  assemble  his  company  at  the  river  Ahava  ;  and  there 
proclaimed  a  fast,  to  seek  of  God  protection  and  a  "  right  way 
for  them  and  their  little  ones  and  for  all  their  substance." 

The  decree  of  Artaxerxes  was  of  the  same  liberal  character 
with  that  of  Cyrus  ;  for  he  permitted  the  children  of  Israel  in 
any  number,  and  from  every  part  of  his  realm,  to  accompany 
Ezra,  and  to  send  up  whatever  contributions  they  pleased ; — 
himself  also  and  his  counsellors  contributing  largely  of  silver, 
gold,  and  vessels  for  the  service  of  the  house  of  God.  lie 
allowed  Ezra  to  draw  on  the  king's  treasury  in  his  province, 
if  necessary,  for  further  supplies,  and  gave  him  an  order  on  the 
treasurers  beyond  the  river  for  silver,  wheat,  wine,  salt,  and 
oil — relieved  the  ministers  of  the  sanctuary  from  toll,  custom, 
and  tribute — authorized  Ezra  to  appoint  judges  and  to  execute 
justice  in  the  land,  and  directed  him  to  have  the  people  taught 
the  laws  of  God  and  the  king. 

Ezra  left  the  river  Ahava  with  his  caravan  on  the  twelfth 
day  of  the  first  month,  and  reached  Jerusalem  in  the  fifth 
month,  Ezra  vii.,  viii.  Among  the  ofi"erings  on  their  arrival 
was  one  of  "  twelve  bullocks  for  all  Israel."  The  whole  num- 
ber, according  to  our  reckoning,  was  1,776  males  and  5,328 
females  and  children,  allowing  one  female  and  two  children  to 
each  adult  male — making  a  total  of  7,10-1  persons,  exclusive  of 
servants  and  attendants. 

Zerubbabel,  the  first  governor,  must  have  died  some  time 
before  the  appointment  of  Ezra ; — the  time  between  the  two  ap- 
pointments being  seventy-eight  years.  Five  months  after  Ezra 
reached  Jerusalem,  by  the  merciful  ordination  of  God,  Esther 
was  taken  into  the  royal  house  of  king  Ahasuerus,  (that  is, 
Artaxerxes,)  in  the  tenth  month  of  the  seventh  year  of  his 
reign  ;  and  "  he  set  the  royal  crown  upon  her  head,  and  made 
her  queen  instead  of  Vashti,"  Esther  i.-ii.,  B.  C.  457. 


526  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE  CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

Through  the  representations  of  the  princes,  Ezra  learned 
that  the  liolj  seed  of  Israel  had  intermarried  and  mingled 
themselves  with  the  surromiding  heathen,  and  that  the  princes 
and  rulers  had  been  chiefs  in  tlie  trespass.  Tlie  holy  man  con- 
fessed the  sin  of  the  people,  and  besought  mercy  from  the 
Lord.  In  an  assembly  gathered  out  of  Israel,  the  people  en- 
tered into  a  covenant  to  put  away  their  strange  wives  ;  and  in 
a  second  assembly,  convened  in  Jerusalem  by  proclamation, 
measures  were  devised  for  carrying  the  covenant  into  effect. 
Ezra  presided  over  the  business.  One  hundred  and  thirteen 
individuals  were  named  as  having  taken  strange  wives.  It 
was  three  months  before  the  whole  affair  was  brought  to  a 
conclusion,  and  the  further  decline  of  the  Church  prevented. 

About  this  time  Zechariah  encouraged  the  Church  by  his 
j)rophecy  of  the  manner  in  which  Messiah  should  be  recog- 
nized making  His  approach  to  Jerusalem  :  "  Rejoice  greatly, 
O  daughter  of  Zion  !  shout,  O  daughter  of  Jerusalem  !  Be- 
hold thy  King  cometh  unto  thee  :  He  is  just  and  having  salva- 
tion :  lowly,  and  riding  upon  an  ass,  and  upon  a  colt  the  foal 
of  an  ass,"  Zech.  ix.  9, 

In  the  same  year  that  Esther  was  made  queen,  Mordecai 
revealed  to  her  the  conspiracy  of  two  of  the  chamberlains 
against  the  life  of  the  king ;  and,  upon  Esther's  representations, 
thej'  were  convicted  and  hanged,  and  the  occurrence  was  re- 
corded in  the  annals  of  the  empire,  Esther  ii.  21-23  ;  but  Mor- 
decai was  unrewarded. 

Aware  of  the  weak  and  infamous  character  of  Haman  the 
Agagite,  the  king's  great  favorite  and  chief  officer  of  court, 
Mordecai  refused  to  do  him  reverence.  To  be  revenged  upon 
Mordecai,  Plaman  plotted  the  destruction  of  all  the  Jews  in  the 
kingdom  ;  but  the  night  before  the  day  upon  which  he  hoped 
to  obtain  permission  of  the  king  to  execute  Mordecai  upon  the 
gallows,  fifty  cubits  high,  which  he  had  erected  for  him,  the 
sleepless  king  ordered  the  chronicles  of  the  kingdom  to  be  read 
before  him,  and  then  learned  that  Mordecai  had  never  been 
rewarded  for  his  fidelity  in  the  conspiracy  of  the  chamberlains. 
The  next  morning,  when  Haman  came  to  speak  to  the  king  for 
his  execution,  he  commanded  Haman  to  conduct  Mordecai, 


ESTHER,    MORDECAI   AND   HAMAN.  527 

arrayed  in  the  royal  apparel  and  riding  upon  the  king's  horse, 
through  the  streets  of  the  city,  and  make  proclamation  as  he 
went,  of  Mordecai's  elevation  and  of  the  favor  of  the  king  now 
conferred  upon  him.  That  day,  Esther  at  her  banquet  discov- 
ered the  plot  of  Haman  to  the  king,  and  he  was  hanged  on  the 
gallows  he  had  reared  for  Mordecai !  At  her  petition,  the 
decree  obtained  by  Haman  for  the  massacre  of  the  Jews  on 
the  thirteenth  day  of  the  twelfth  month,  throughout  the  one 
hundred  and  twenty-seven  provinces,  was  opposed  by  another 
given  under  the  hand  of  Mordecai,  and  with  the  royal  seal, 
granting  liberty  to  the  Jews  on  that  day  to  stand  for  their  lives, 
and  to  destroy  all  who  might  rise  up  against  them,  and  take 
their  substance  for  a  spoil.  A  Jew  was  now  the  prime  minister 
of  the  realm,  and  the  city  of  Shushan  rejoiced  in  his  elevation. 
The  Jews  -were  filled  with  gladness  and  inspired  with  courage 
for  defence.  Their  fear  fell  upon  many  people  of  the  land,  and 
they  became  Jews.  When  the  day  drew  on,  the  rulers  and 
officers  of  the  different  provinces,  through  fear  of  Mordecai, 
favored  the  Jews ;  and  in  the  city  of  Shushan  they  slew  eight 
hundred  of  their  enemies,  and  hanged  the  ten  sons  of  Haman. 
In  addition,  throughout  the  j)rovinces,  they  slew  seventy-five 
thousand  of  their  enemies,  acting  purely  in  self-defence  ;  for, 
although  the  decree  allowed  them  to  do  it,  yet  "  they  laid  not 
their  hands  on  the  prey."  The  feast  of  Purini  (from  Pur,  the 
lot  cast  by  Haman)  was  instituted  to  be  observed  in  all  gen- 
erations upon  this  day,  in  commemoration  of  their  deliverance 
from  so  awful  a  destruction,  Esther  iii.-x.  The  cruel  decree 
was  sent  into  all  the  provinces  of  the  Persian  empire,  and 
without  doubt  into  Judea,  Ezra  v.  8.  Although  there  is  no 
record  of  any  suffering  in  that  province  on  account  of  it,  yet, 
considering  their  distance  from  the  seat  of  government,  their 
feeble  state,  and  the  implacable  hatred  of  their  Samaritan  ene- 
mies, it  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  they  did  suffer. 

The  large  number  slain  by  the  Jews,  (seventy-five  thousand 
in  the  provinces,  and  eight  hundred  in  the  capital,)  proves  that 
the  Jews  in  the  captivity  were  not  only  numerous,  but  much 
hated  by  their  heathen  conquerors ;  for,  notwithstanding  the 
counter  decree  of  the  king,  and  the  fact  that  the  queen  and 


528  THE   HISTORY   OF  TUE   CHUECH    OF    GOD. 

prime-minister  were  Jews,  and  necessarily  wielded  a  powerful 
influence  in  the  affairs  of  the  empire,  the  heathen  did  rise  as  ene- 
mies against  the  Jews,  and  did  "  hate  them"  and  "  seek  their 
hurt,"  The  Lord,  however,  mercifully  interposed,  and  saved 
His  people  by  an  easy  victory  ;  for  there  was  still  a  renmant 
according  to  the  election  of  grace  in  the  captivity,  and  many 
were  yet  to  go  up  to  Judea  and  dwell  there. 

Ezra  continued  governor  of  Judea  for  twelve  years,  (from* 
B.  C.  458  to  B.  C.  446,)  and  was  then  superseded  by  Nehe- 
miali,  cup-bearer  to  the  king — a  man  of  distinguished  piety, 
patriotism,  wisdom,  and  courage,  who  came  in  the  twentieth 
year  of  Artaxerxes,  with  a  military  escort,  and  clothed  with 
full  power  to  rebuild  the  city  and  its  walls.  Inspiring  the 
people  with  his  own  zeal,  liberality,  and  faith,  all  classes 
(priests,  princes,  merchants,  apothecaries,  and  goldsmiths,  and 
even  females)  put  their  hands  to  the  building  of  the  wall. 
Although  from  the  threatening  attitude  of  their  Samaritan 
enemies  they  were  compelled  to  put  a  portion  of  the  people 
on  guard  to  repel  any  sudden  assault,  and  to  require  every 
laborino;  man  with  one  hand  to  work  and  with  the  other  to  hold 
a  weapon,  in  fifty-two  days  the  wall  was  finished,  the  gates  set 
up,  and  Jerusalem  once  more  fortified  and  safe  !  "  Tlie  street 
shall  be  built  again,  and  the  wall,  even  in  troublous  times," 
Dan.  ix.  25.  ISTehemiah  appointed  his  brother  Hanani — "  a 
faithful  man  and  who  feared  God  above  many  " — governor 
over  the  city,  and,  for  his  assistant,  Ilanaiiiali,  ruler  of  the 
palace,  ]^eh.  i.-iv.,  vi.  1-3. 

Wliile  engaged  in  building  the  wall,  this  zealous  and  dis- 
interested man  reformed  some  abuses  under  which  a  portion 
of  the  poorer  people  labored.  Their  houses  and  lands  had 
been  mortgaged  for  the  support  of  their  families,  and  the  pay- 
ment of  public  taxes.  Their  sons  and  daughters  were  in  con- 
sequence brought  into  bondage  by  their  brethren,  and  their 
creditors  had  exacted  usury  and  otherwise  oppressed  them. 
For  twelve  years,  while  he  acted  as  governor  before  his  return 
to  Persia,  considering  the  depressed  state  of  the  people,  "  be- 
cause the  bondage  was  heavy  upon  them,"  he  was  not  charge- 
able to  them,  but  supported  himself  and  his  household  in  all 


1 


POPULATION  OF  JERUSALEM.  629 

their  large  expenses  out  of  his  own  resources  ;  and  he  tells  us 
that  he  did  it,  "  because  of  the  fear  of  God,"  NcL.  v. 

The  walls  encircled  a  large  city  with  a  small  population, 
and  great  spaces  unbuilt  upon.  The  wise  governor  conceived 
the  design  of  removing  one-tenth  of  the  people  out  of  the  other 
cities  into  Jerusalem,  that  it  might  be  compactly  built,  and 
made  populous  and  strong.  For  that  purpose  he  took  a  sort 
of  census  of  the  province,  availing  himself  in  the  first  place, 
of  the  list,  numbers,  and  genealogy  of  all  wlio  came  up  origi- 
nally with  Zerubbabel,  (which  doubtless  was  furnished  him  out 
of  the  archives  of  the  governor's  office,  or  by  Ezra,  l^eh.  vii. 
1-72  ;  comp.  Ezra  ii.  1-TO  ;)  and,  in  the  second  place,  of  a  gen- 
eral assembly  of  all  the  people  at  Jerusalem.  They  gathered 
themselves  as  one  man  into  the  holy  city,  comp.  Ezra  iii.  1 
and  Neh.  viii.  1.  At  the  request  of  the  people  Ezra  brought 
forth  the  book  of  the  law  for  their  instruction,  and  stood  above 
the  people  upon  a  pulpit  of  wood  made  for  the  pui-pose. 
When  he  opened  the  book,  the  people  stood  up,  and  Ezra 
ofi'ered  prayer,  to  which  the  people  responded,  Amen,  and 
they  bowed  and  worshipped  God.  Ezra  and  his  assistants 
from  morning  to  mid-day,  "  read  in  the  book  of  the  law  of 
God  distinctly,  and  gave  the  sense,  and  caused  them  to  under- 
stand the  reading."  The  reading  and  exposition  of  the  law 
moved  the  people  to  tears  ;  but  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  and  the 
Levites,  dismissed  them  to  observe  the  rest  of  the  day  with 
thanksgiving  and  joy.  On  assembling  the  next  dsiy,  they  dis- 
covered out  of  the  law,  that  it  was  the  month  for  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  feast  of  tabernacles,  Avhich  they  observed  on  the 
fourteenth  day ;  and,  for  the  seven  days  of  the  feast,  met  daily 
for  the  reading  of  the  law  and  for  instruction,  Neh.  viii. 
"  And  there  w^as  very  great  gladness." 

The  day  after  the  feast,  the  work  of  repentance  and  refor- 
mation was  entered  upon  ;  for  although,  years  before,  Ezra 
had  constrained  the  people  to  put  away  their  strange  wives 
and  to  separate  themselves  from  the  people  of  the  lands,  some 
of  them  had  fallen  into  the  same  sins  again,  and  Nehemiah 
sought  to  reform  this,  in  connection  with  other  sins  ;  it  was  for 
such  sins  that  the  assembly  wept.  Accordingly,  the  day  after 
34 


530  THE   HISTOKT   OF    THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

the  feast,  the  twenty-fourtli  was  observed  as  a  day  of  fasting, 
humiliation,  and  prayer.  Having  separated  themselves  from 
all  strangers,  they  stood  in  their  places,  and  were  instructed 
out  of  the  law  of  God  one-fourth  of  the  day  ;  and  one-fourth 
they  stood  and  confessed  their  sins  and  the  iniquities  of  their 
fathers.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  solemn  prayer,  the  governor, 
!Nehemiah,  and  all  the  people  entered  into  a  covenant,  under 
a  curse  and  an  oath,  to  walk  in  the  law  of  the  Lord  ;  to  have 
no  further  connection  with  the  heathen  by  intermarriage ;  to 
observe  the  sabbath,  the  sabbatical  year,  and  the  remission 
"  of  every  debt ;  "  to  make  the  required  offerings  of  money, 
wood,  and  first  fruits ;  to  consecrate  their  first  son ;  to  pay 
tithes ;  to  support  the  ministry ;  to  worship  God,  and  never 
forsake  His  house.  They  wrote  the  covenant  and  sealed  it, 
Neh.  viii.-x. 

Nehemiah  now  perfected  his  "design  of  peopling  Jerusalem. 
The  rulers  dwelt  there,  forming  the  first  great  council ;  and 
the  rest  of  the  people  cast  lots  to  bring  one  of  ten  to  dwell  in 
Jerusalem.  Some  willingly  offered  to  do  so.  In  this  manner 
the  city  was  to  be  speedily  supplied  with  a  population,  built 
up,  and  strongly  garrisoned,  Neh.  xi.  The  names  of  the 
dwellers  in  Jerusalem  are  honorably  recorded. 

The  walls  being  built,  and  necessary  reforms  effected,  a 
solemn  covenant  renewed  with  the  Lord,  and  arrangements 
made  for  the  peopling  of  Jerusalem,  Nehemiah  concluded  his 
labors  at  this  time  by  the  solemn  dedication  of  the  wall  of  the 
city,  wliich  was  indeed  of  the  nature  of  a  dedication  of  the 
whole  city  to  the  Great  King.  As  the  priests  and  Lcvites 
were  to  act  a  conspicuous  part  in  this  imposing  ceremony, 
he  furnished  himself  with  a  list  of  all  that  came  up  with  Zerub- 
babel,  and  of  such  as  were  in  the  days  of  Ezra  and  ITehemiah, 
Neh.  xii.  1-26.  "  And  at  the  dedication  of  the  walls  of  Jeru- 
salem, they  sought  the  Levites  out  of  all  their  places,  to  bring 
them  to  Jerusalem  to  keep  the  dedication  with  gladness,  both 
with  singing  and  with  cymbals,  psalteries,  and  with  liarps." 
The  wall  was  accordingly  dedicated,  and  the  people  offered 
"  great  sacrifices  and  rejoiced :  for  God  had  made  them,  the 
wives  also  and  the  children,  to  rejoice  with  great  joy :    so 


\ 


NEHEMIAH.  531 

that  the  joy  of  Jerusalem  was  heard  even  afar  off,"  Neh.  xii, 
27-43. 

On  the  same  occasion  they  appointed  some  to  take  charge 
of  the  chambers  (in  the  temple)  in  which  were  to  be  deposited 
all  the  offerings  of  first-frnits  and  tithes  for  the  priests,  that 
they  might  have  their  daily  portion  and  full  support.  And 
the  excellent  reason  is  given  for  the  arrangement,  namely,  that 
it  was  a  spontaneous  act  of  kindness  and  affection  towards  their 
ministry :  "  for  Judah  rejoiced  for  the  priests  and  for  the 
Levites  that  waited,"  ISTeh.  xi.  44-47. 

It  is  after  these  transactions  that  we  place  the  return  of 
Kehemiah  to  the  court  of  Persia,  B.  C.  434,  just  twelve  years 
after  his  first  coming  ;  consequently,  he  must  have  governed 
in  Jerusalem  a  number  of  years  after  his  reforms,  seeking  the 
good  of  the  people,  and  completing  the  rebuilding  and  settle- 
ment of  Jerusalem,  Neh.  v.  14. 

Nehemiah  does  not  state  how  long  he  was  absent  from  his 
duties  in  Judea,  and  it  is  impossible  to  fix  upon  the  year  in 
which  he  "  obtained  leave  of  the  king  to  return,"  Neh.  xiii.  6. 
He  went  back  to  Persia  in  the  thirty-second  year  of  Artaxerxes' 
reign,  and  returned  to  Judea  before  his  death,  which  hap- 
pened in  the  forty-first  year  of  his  reign,  P.  C.  424 ;  conse- 
quently, he  must  have  been  absent  between  eight  and  nine 
years.  This  was  long  enough  for  the  state  of  things  to  come 
about  in  Judea  which  called  for  reform  when  he  returned,, 
namely,  for  the  people  to  decline  from  a  strict  observance  of 
the  covenant,  for  some  of  them  to  marry  heathen  wives,  aad 
for  the  children  of  these  marriages  to  be  considerably  grown, 
and  to  speak  in  the  different  languages  of  their  parents,  Neh. 
xiii.  23-27. 

On  some  occasion  after  Nehemiah's  return  to  Judea,  learn- 
ing from  the  book  of  the  law  then  being  read  in  the  audience 
of  the  people,  that  the  Moabites  and  Ammonites  should  be 
excluded  from  the  congregation  of  the  Lord  forever,  on  account 
of  what  the}^  did  to  Israel  on  their  way  out  of  Egypt  to  the 
promised  land,  the  people  separated  from  themselves  all  the 
mixed  multitude,  Neh.  xiii.  1-3.  This  seems  to  have  been  but 
the  cari-ying  out  partially  of  a  reform  again  set  on  foot  by  the 


532  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHUECH    OF   GOD.. 

zealous  and  ever-watcliful  governor.  The  cliief  priest  Eliashib 
was  a  leader  in  forming  connections  with  the  heathen.  While 
^ehemiah  was  absent,  lie  not  only  allied  himself  in  the  most 
friendly  manner  with  Tobiah  the  Ammonite,  (his  family  hav- 
ing intermarried  with  the  Jews,  JSTeh.  vi.  17-18,)  bnt  proceeded 
to  appropriate  to  Tobiah's  use  and  occupation  one  of  the  great 
chambers  in  the  courts  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  which  had 
been  devoted  as  a  treasury  for  all  the  offerings  and  tithes  for 
the  priests  and  Levites,  the  singers  and  the  porters,  Neh.  xii. 
4:4r-4:7,  removiug  all  the  sanctified  things  to  furnish  accommo- 
dations for  Tobiah  and  his  household  stuff.  This  sacrilegious 
act  grieved  N^ehemiah  sorely,  and  he  made  short  work  with 
the  high-priest  and  his  outlandish  friend ;  for  he  uncere- 
moniously cast  all  the  household  stuff  of  Tobiah  out  of  the 
chamber,  and  had  it  cleansed  and  restored  to  its  original  use, 
JSTeh.  xiii,  4-9. 

Nehemiah  observed  a  great  falling  off  in  the  support  of  the 
ministry,  that  the  treasuries  were  empty,  and  the  treasurers 
gone ;  that  the  Levites  and  singers,  deprived  of  support,  had  in 
self-preservation  fled  every  man  to  his  field,  and  that  the  house 
of  God  was  in  a  manner  forsaken.  All  these  disorders  he  spee- 
dily reformed.  He  observed  the  desecration  of  the  Sabbath — 
that  on  that  day  wine-presses  were  trodden,  harvests  gathered, 
and  all  manner  of  burdens  brought  into  Jerusalem.  The  j)eople 
themselves,  and  Tyrian  fishmongers  and  merchants,  bought  and 
sold  on  the  sabbath  day.  He  arrested  the  evil  ;  drove  away 
the  foreign  traders  from  approaching  the  w^alls  on  the  sabbath, 
and  committed  the  keeping  of  the  city  gates  on  that  day  to 
the  Levites,  Neh.  xiii.  15-22.  He  observed  also  that  the  peo- 
ple had  again  married  wives  of  the  heathen,  and  were  rearing 
a  mongrel  race  of  children.  His  ri^'hteous  indio:nation  was 
greatly  aroused.  He  laid  violent  hands  upon  the  transgressors 
and  exacted  an  oath  of  them  to  abstain  from  the  iniquity ;  and 
he  chased  away  Mannasseh,  as  Josej)hus  calls  him,  the  son  of 
Joiada  the  high  priest,  who  had  married  a  strange  wife.  By 
these  vigorous  acts  he  supported  religion  and  restored  order. 

Eliashib  the  high-priest  died  during  these  reforms,  as  is 
conjectured,  about  B.  C.  413,  and  in  the  eleventh  year  of  the 


NEHEMIAH — MALACHI.  533 

reign  of  Darius  ISTothus.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Joiada, 
Neh.  xii.  10. 

The  termination  of  Nehemiah's  government  over  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  and  the  end  of  his  pious,  useful,  and  distinguished 
life,  are  both  hidden  in  obscurity.  He  was  alive  after  Joiada 
became  high-priest,  according  to  his  own  assertion,  Neh.  xiii.  28, 
and  may  have  been  governor  as  late  as  B.  C.  409,  the  fifteenth 
year  of  Darius  ISTothus,  sou  of  Artaxerxes.  If  it  be  allowed 
that  !Nchemiah  penned  the  10th,  11th,  and  22d  verses  of  the 
12th  chapter  of  his  book,  then  he  lived  still  longer — to  an  ex- 
treme old  age — one  hundred  and  twenty  years  or  more,  and  was 
cotemporary  with  the  famous  high-priest  Jaddua,  B.  C.  341. 
The  supposition  is,  that  the  names  of  Jonathan  and  Jaddua  in 
the  verses  referred  to,  were  added  to  the  genealogy  of  the 
high-priests  by  another  hand,  much  later  than  Kehemiah, 
while  perfecting  and  settling  the  text  and  canon  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture. 

Cotemporary  with  Kehemiah  in  his  second  administration, 
lived  and  labored  Malachi,  the  last  of  the  illustrious  line  of  the 
prophets,  who  rebuked  the  people  for  the  sins  which  Nehemiali 
noticed  and  reformed,  besides  others ;  and  strengthened  the 
faith  and  cheered  the  hope  of  believers  with  the  last  predic- 
tions of  the  Redeemer,  under  the  titles  of  "  the  Messenger,"  or 
"  Angel  of  the  Covenant,"  "  the  Lord,"  whom  they  sought, 
who  was  to  come  (preceded  by  His  forerunner)  to  His  temple  ; 
and  again,  under  the  title  of  "  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  arising 
with  healing  in  His  wings,"  for  the  establishment  and  triumph 
of  His  Church,  Mai.  iii.  1-4 ;  iv.  1-3.  The  Spirit  of  Inspira- 
tion illuminated  the  opening  and  subsequent  pages  of  the  Old 
Testament  with  the  glorious  light  of  salvation  by  a  Redeemer 
to  come ;  and,  ere  He  departs  for  a  season.  He  illumines  the 
closing  paragraphs  with  the  same  glorious  light  in  these  pro- 
phecies of  Malachi.  Finishing  the  book,  He  bequeaths  it  to 
the  Church,  a  rich  legacy  of  an  all-sufficient  rule  of  faith  and 
practice,  commanding  the  Church  to  keep  in  remembrance, 
and  to  feed  upon  this  law  of  Moses,  illustrated  and  confirmed 
by  all  the  prophets  and  sacred  -writers,  until  the  forerunner, 
coming  in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elijah,  should  announce  the 


534  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

advent  of  the  Redeemer  Himself.  The  passage  may  be  quoted 
a  second  time,  "  Remember  ye  the  law  of  Moses  my  servant, 
which  I  commanded  unto  him  in  Horeb  for  all  Israel,  with  the 
statutes  and  judgments.  Behold,  I  will  send  you  Elijah  the 
prophet,  before  the  coming  of  the  great  and  dreadful  day  of 
the  Lord.  And  he  shall  turn  the  heart  of  the  fathers  to  the 
children,  and  the  heart  of  the  children  to  their  fathers  :  lest  I 
come  and  smite  the  earth  with  a  curse,"  Mai.  iv.  4-6. 

It  will  be  not  much  wide  of  the  truth  to  place  the  end  of 
the  administration  of  JSTehemiah  and  the  prophecy  of  Malachi, 
or,  in  other  words,  the  close  of  the  Old  Testament  canon,  in 
the  year  400  before  Christ. 


NUMBER   OF  ABRAHAM'S   DESCENDANTS.  535 


CHAPTEE  XXX. 

KTJMBKRS  THAT  RETUKNED  FROM  THE  CAPTIVITY. — A  REPRESENTATION  OP 
ALL  THE  TRIBES. — TEN  TRIBES  NOT  LOST. —  CLOSE  OP  THE  HISTORY  OP 
THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT. — CONDITION  AND  STATE  OP  RE- 
LIGION.— THE  CANON  OP  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT. — SUMMARY  AND  CON- 
CLUSION OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME. 

One  of  the  special  promises  of  God  to  Abraham  in  setting 
up  His  visible  Church  in  an  organized  form,  was,  "  Thy  seed 
shall  be  as  the  dust  of  the  earth,"  as  "  the  sand  upon  the  sea- 
shore," as  "  the  stars  of  heaven,"  Gen.  xii.  2-3  ;  xv.  5  ;  xvii. 
5-6  ;  xxviii.  14.  Moses  considered  the  promise  fulfilled  in  his 
day,  Deut.  i.  10  :  "  The  Lord  your  God  hath  multiplied  you, 
and  behold  ye  are  this  day  as  the  stars  of  heaven  for  multi- 
tude," and  he  prayed,  "  The  Lord  God  of  your  fathers  make 
you  a  thousand  times  so  many  more  as  ye  are,  and  bless  you 
as  He  hath  promised  you  ;  "  but  the  highest  numbers  were 
reached  in  the  prosperous  reigns  of  David  and  Solomon. 

The  increase  had  suffered  checks  at  different  times  from 
Abraham  to  Solomon,  and  always  in  the  way  of  rebuke  and 
chastisement  for  sin.  From  Solomon  to  the  captivity,  the 
decrease  by  various  afflictions,  chiefly  by  war  and  its  conse- 
quences, went  steadily  on  in  both  kingdoms,  with  only  occa- 
sional pauses — fewer  indeed  in  Israel  than  in  Judah,  2  Kings 
xiv.  23-29.  Upon  the  division,  the  kingdoms  were  unevenly 
balanced.  Israel  had  more  tribes  and  a  larger  population,  but 
in  process  of  time  became  the  feebler  kingdom  of  the  two. 
Jeroboam,  the  first  king,  mustered  a  larger  army  than  any  of 
his  successors,  for  he  attacked  Judah  with  800,000  men.     The 


536  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

kingdom  of  Judali  was  at  its  height  under  Jehoshaphat,  who 
could  call  into  the  Held  an  army  of  1,160,000  men !  The 
increase  being  conditioned  upon  the  obedience  and  holiness  of 
the  people,  it  rose  or  fell  with  their  pm'ity  or  corruption,  ac- 
cording to  the  words  of  Moses,  Deut.  xxviii.  1-68,  "  And  ye 
shall  be  left  few  in  number,  whereas  ye  were  as  the  stars  of 
heaven  for  multitude  :  because  thou  wouldst  not  obey  the  voice 
of  the  Lord  thy  God.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  as  the 
Lord  rejoiced  over  you  to  do  you  good,  and  to  multiply  you, 
so  the  Lord  will  rejoice  over  you  to  destroy  you  and  to  bring 
you  to  nought :  and  ye  shall  be  plucked  off  the  land  whither 
thou  goest  to  possess  it."  As  corruption  advanced,  the  popula- 
tion declined  ;  the  armies  of  the  kingdoms  diminished  from 
hundreds  of  thousands  to  tens  of  thousands,  and  they  were  left 
few  in  number  to  what  they  had  been  when  each  went  into 
captivity.  There  is  no  record  of  the  number  that  went  into 
captivity  at  different  times  from  Israel ;  and  the  returns  from 
Judah  are  so  imperfect  that  all  calculations  are  conjectures 
only.  Tliere  were  six  distinct  deportations  from  this  latter 
kingdom  in  twenty-three  years,  under  ISTebuchadnezzar ;  and 
the  numbers  of  the  second,  third,  fourth  and  sixth  are  pre- 
served, as  follows  :  3,023  (Jer.  lii.  28) ;  18,000  (2  Kings  xxiv. 
10-16) ;  823  (Jer.  lii.  39) ;  and  745  (Jer.  lii.  30)— amounting  in 
all  to  22,600.  Assuming,  agreeably  to  the  Scripture  mode  of 
reckoning,  that  these  were  males,  and  allowing  three  persons 
(women,  children,  and  servants)  to  each  male,  the  sum  would 
be  67,800.  The  number  of  the  first  deportation — when  Daniel 
and  his  three  friends  were  carried  away, — and  of  the  fifth — when 
the  temple  and  city  were  finally  destroyed,  and  no  inhabitants 
left  save  the  poor  of  the  land, — could  not  fall  short  at  the  lowest 
estimate  of  20,000  men,  or  60,000  persons  of  all  conditions. 
This  added  to  the  former  total,  would  raise  the  entire  deporta- 
tions under  Nebuchadnezzar  to  127,800.  No  reckoning  is 
made  of  those  who  secreted  themselves  in  the  land,  and  who 
escaped  into  adjoining  countries,  many  of  whom  came  back 
and  put  themselves  under  the  protection  of  Gedaliah,  and  a 
majority  of  whom  went  down  into  Egypt,  and  perished  there. 
This  estimate  cannot  be  considered  large,  since  there  were  men 


NUMBER   or   THE   CAPTIVES.  537 

in  Judali  sufficient  to  garrison  towns,  Jerusalem  in  particular, 
and  it  required  a  considerable  force  from  Babylonia  to  subdue 
them.  The  like  estimate  may  be  assumed  for  the  kingdom  of 
Israel,  which  must  have  been,  at  the  period  of  her  several  cap- 
tivities, at  least  as  populous  as  Judah  was  at  the  period  of  her 
captivity.  The  grand  total  of  all  the  children  of  Israel  carried 
captive  into  Assyria  and  Babylonia,  both  the  apostate  and 
true,  must  have  been  255,600.  As  the  Assyrian  and  Baby- 
lonian monarchs  designed  by  this  transfer  of  population  to 
strengthen  and  improve  their  kingdoms,  it  is  reasonable  to 
believe  that  the  captives  were  removed  leisurely  and  safely, 
and  located  in  their  new  homes  favorably. 

But,  suppose  we  multiply  the  estimate  largely,  and  say 
that  500,000,  or  even  1,000,000  were  deported,  what  a  prodig- 
ious reduction  of  a  people  so  numerous,  amounting  in  their 
best  days  to  between  six  and  eight  millions  !  Transgression  is 
the  overthrow  of  the  Church.  The  Lord  delighteth  not  in  num- 
bers but  in  holiness  !  How  did  the  erring  people  perish  at  the 
rebuke  of  His  countenance  !  How  were  they  driven  like  chaff 
before  the  wind,  and  scattered  without  strength  among  the  na- 
tions !  Levit.  xxvi.  1-46.  What  is  more,  the  threatenings  of 
God  were  adverse  to  their  increase  in  the  land  of  their  captivity. 
"  Among  these  nations  shalt  tliou  find  no  ease,  neither  shall 
the  sole  of  thy  foot  have  rest :  but  the  Lord  shall  give  thee  a 
trembling  heart,  and  failing  of  eyes,  and  sorrow  of  mind  ;  and 
thy  life  shall  hang  in  doubt  before  thee  ;  and  thou  shalt  fear 
day  and  night,  and  shalt  have  none  assurance  of  thy  life  :  in 
the  morning  thou  shalt  say,  Would  God  it  were  even  !  and  at 
even  thou  shalt  say,  AVoukl  God  it  were  morning  !  for  the  fear 
of  thine  heart  w-herewith  thou  shalt  fear,  and  for  the  sight  of 
thine  eyes  which  thou  shalt  see,"  Deut.  xxviii.  64-67.  "  And 
upon  them  that  are  left  alive  of  you,  I  will  send  a  faintness 
into  their  hearts  in  the  lands  of  their  enemies  ;  and  the  sound 
of  a  shaken  leaf  shall  chase  them  :  and  they  shall  fiee  as  fleeing 
from  a  sword  :  and  they  shall  fall  when  none  pursueth.  And 
they  shall  fall  one  upon  another,  as  it  were  before  a  sword 
when  none  pursueth  :  and  ye  shall  have  no  power  to  stand 
before  your  enemies.    And  ye  shall  perish  among  the  heathen. 


538  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

and  the  land  of  your  enemies  shall  eat  you  up.  And  they 
that  are  left  of  you  shall  pine  away  in  their  iniquity  in  your 
enemies'  lands  :  and  also  in  the  iniquities  of  their  fathers  shall 
they  pine  away  with  them,"  Levit.  xxvi.  36-39. 

There  were  two  principal  caravans  that  returned  :  the  first 
under  Zerrubbabel  (B.  C.  536),  numbering,  as  stated  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  49,897  (Ezra  ii.  1-65  ;  Neh.  vii.  1-67),  to 
which  add  forty-five  singing  men  and  singing  women,  as  given 
by  Nehemiah,  and  the  caravan  reached  49,942.  The  second 
returned  under  Ezra  (B.  C.  458),  seventy-eight  years  after, 
numbering  7,104.  If  the  same  proportion  of  servants  and 
attendants  are  added  which  obtained  in  the  first  caravan — say, 
for  round  calculation,  one-seventh,  or  1,000,  the  second  caravan 
reaches  8,104,  and  the  two  together  number  58,046  persons  of 
all  classes.  Neither  in  his  first  coming  (B.  C.  446),  nor  in  his 
second,  (B.  C.  425),  did  Kehemiah  bring  any  caravan  with  him 
to  Jerusalem.  Yet  some  Israelites  may  have  availed  them- 
selves of  such  good  opportunities,  and  returned  with  him  to 
their  native  land.  As  communications  were  frequent  between 
the  province  and  Persia,  small  bodies  may  have  returned  from 
time  to  time,  A  remnant,  as  was  predicted,  came  up  from 
Egypt,  and  from  all  lands,  besides  Assyria  and  Babylonia, 
whither  they  had  been  driven,  Jer.  xi.  11-16  ;  xxvii.  13  ; 
Ezek.  xxxvi.  24 ;  xxxvii.  21 ;  Zech.  x.  9-10.  Bring  all  these 
returning  streams  together,  and  a  considerable  population  re- 
occupied  the  holy  land,  amounting  however  to  a  small  rem- 
nant of  a  people  once  as  the  sand  upon  the  sea-shore,  Isa.  x. 
22  ;  Eom.  ix.  27. 

The  reasons  which  deterred  the  people  from  returning  in 
greater  numbers  were,  we  conjecture :  First,  apostasy.  Al- 
most all  Israel,  and  a  large  proportion  of  Judah  went  into 
captivity  confirmed  idolaters,  and  easily  amalgamated  with  the 
heathen.  Their  posterity  followed  their  pernicious  ways,  and 
speedily  all  reverence  for  God  and  the  religion  of  their  fathers 
became  obliterated.  Second,  social  ties  and  private  interests. 
They  had  married  wives,  reared  and  settled  children,  formed 
influential  friendships,  built  houses,  bought  lands,  established 
trades,  prosecuted  lucrative  businesses,  and  invested  funds,  so 


NUMBER   OF   THOSE   WHO   EETURNED.  O^Q 

that  the  objections  to  removal  were  too  many  and  serious  to  be 
encountered.  Third,  local  attachments.  Israel  had  been  in 
captivity  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  years  (B.  C.  721-536) 
nearly  six  generations ;  and  Judali  from  fifty  to  seventy  years, 
about  two  generations.  The  original  stock  of  Israel  had  long 
died  out,  and  their  posterity  for  several  generations  had  not 
set  foot  in  the  holy  land,  and  knew  no  other  country  and  no 
other  home  but  Assyria  and  Babylonia.  In  like  manner  the 
stock  of  Judah  had  extensively  diminished  ;  for  it  was  only  the 
old  men  that  remembered  the  former  temple  and  the  goodly 
land.  Fourth,  freedom  from  intolerable  oppression  like  that 
in  Egypt.  They  were  perhaps  as  well  off  as  any  other  subjects 
of  the  empire,  having  part  of  the  time  strong  friends  at  court, 
and  therefore  might  remain  in  their  captivity  and  do  compara- 
tively well.  Finally,  decline  in  piety,  even  among  those  who 
still  adhered  to  the  Lord  and  His  covenant,  and  looked  for 
Messiah.  The  more  pious  of  the  Church  returned,  according 
to  prediction.  "  The  remnant "  of  Israel  and  Judah,  Isa.  x. 
20-23  ;  xi.  11-16,  the  "  elect  seed,"  Isa.  Ixv.  9,  upon  "  whom 
God's  Spirit  was  poured  out,"  Ezek.  xxxix.  25-29,  the  "  pure 
gold,"  came  out  of  the  furnace  of  affliction,  Amos  ix.  9-15. 
The  reasons  why  more  returned  from  the  tribes  of  Judali,  Levi, 
and  Benjamin,  than  from  the  rest,  were,  that  these  tribes  went 
last  into  captivity,  were  the  more  pious  portion  of  the  visible 
Church,  and  enjoyed  the  ministry  of  the  prophets,  and  the  out- 
pouring of  the  Spirit  of  God. 

A  representation  of  all  the  tribes  returned,  so  that  the  iden- 
tity and  unity  of  the  people  of  God  were  preserved.  The 
united  body  after  the  captivity  took  the  name  of  Jews,  from 
the  leading  tribe  Judah,  and  the  honored  tribe  of  the  Messiah. 
The  men  of  Judah  however  were  called  Jews  as  far  back  as  the 
reign  of  Hezekiah,  2  Kings  xviii.  26-28  ;  Isa.  xxxvi.  11-13. 
Jeremiah  calls  them  so  both  before  and  after  the  captivity, 
xxxii.  12  ;  xxxviii.  19  ;  Hi.  28  ;  xl.  11-12  ;  xli.  3  ;  xliv.  1.  This 
was  the  name  they  bore  in  the  captivit}',  according  to  Daniel 
ill.  8  ;  Esther  iii.  6,  13  ;  iv.  13,  16  ;  Ezra  iv.  12  ;  Xeh.  i.  2  ; 
iv.  2  ;  V.  17. 

The  distinction  of  tribes,  by  separation  and  location  on  their 


5^0  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF   GOD. 

respective  territories,  no  longer  was  nor  could  be  kept  up ;  for 
mucli  of  their  territories  was  in  possession  of  men  of  other 
nations — Geutiles  and  Samaritans,  for  example,  on  the  east  of 
Jordan,  south  of  Judah,  along  the  coast  of  the  great  sea  west, 
and  in  the  central  and  northern  parts.  Indeed,  the  distinction 
of  the  tribes  was  no  longer  necessary  ;  it  was  sufficient  that 
the  families  of  the  tribes  preserved  their  genealogies  separately 
and  faithfully ;  and  this  was  done  until  the  advent  of  our  Lord. 
Having  fulfilled  their  design,  they  also  shortly  after  passed 
away. 

The  ten  tribes  (or  the  whole  kingdom  of  Israel)  were  not 
lost  in  the  captivity,  as  has  been  affirmed. 

The  first  proof  is  drawn  from  the  promises  of  a  covenant- 
keeping  God  expressed  in  prophecy.  Hosea  predicts  both  the 
captivity  and  the  return  of  the  ten  tribes,  (vii.,  xiv.),  and  (i., 
ii.,)  unites  Judah  and  Israel  in  the  return  :  "  Then  shall  the 
children  of  Judah  and  the  children  of  Israel  be  gathered  to- 
gether, and  appoint  themselves  one  head,  and  they  shall  come 
up  out  of  the  land."  Amos  (ix.  1-15)  delivers  a  prediction  of 
the  same  character.  Isaiah  corresponds  with  both,  and  even 
names  Cyras  the  shepherd  of  the  Lord,  whose  office  it  should 
be  to  restore  His  people  and  rebuild  His  temple  (xliii.-xlv., 
xlviii.)  "  He  shall  build  my  city  and  let  go  my  captives." 
The  beautiful  prophecy  in  ch.  xi.  11-13,  was  literally  fulfilled  : 
"  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  that  the  Lord  shall  set 
His  hand  again  the  second  time  to  recover  the  remnant  of  His 
people,  which  shall  be  left,  from  Assyria,  and  from  Egypt,  and 
from  Pathros,  and  from  Cush,  and  from  Elam,  and  from  Shinar, 
and  from  Hamath,  and  from  the  islands  of  tlie  sea.  And  He 
shall  set  up  an  ensign  for  the  nations,  and  shall  assemble  the 
outcasts  of  Israel,  and  gather  together  the  dispersed  of  Judah 
from  the  four  corners  of  the  earth.  The  envy  also  of  Ephraim 
shall  depart,  and  the  adversaries  of  Judah  shall  be  cut  ofi' ; 
Ephraim  shall  not  envy  Judah,  and  Judah  shall  not  vex  Ephra- 
im." "No  contentions  existed  after  the  return  from  the  cap- 
tivity. The  kingdoms  were  no  longer  separated,  but  united. 
Jeremiah  is  explicit :  "  Thus  speaketh  the  Lord  God  of  Israel, 
saying,  Write  thee  all  the  words  that  I  have  spoken  unto  thee 


THE   TEN  TRIBES  WERE   NOT   LOST.  641 

in  a  book.  For  lo  !  the  days  come,  saitli  the  Lord,  that  I  will 
bring  again  the  captivity  of  my  people  Israel  and  Judah,  saith 
the  Lord  :  and  I  will  cause  them  to  return  to  the  land  that  I 
gave  to  their  ftithers,  and  they  shall  possess  it."  Then  follow 
God's  declarations  of  His  love  and  faithfulness  towards  His 
erring  people  which  should  never  fail ;  for  He  would  break 
the  yoke  from  off  their  necks  and  burst  their  bonds,  and,  hav- 
ing corrected  them  in  measure,  He  would  restore  health  unto 
them,  and  be  the  God  of  all  tlie  families  of  Israel,  and  they 
should  be  His  people.  They  should  plant  vines  on  the  moun- 
tains of  Samaria  and  go  up  to  Zion.  The  city  should  be  built. 
The  Lord  would  sow  the  house  of  Israel  and  the  house  of 
Judah  with  the  seed  of  man  and  with  the  seed  of  beast :  and 
no  more  pluck  up  and  break  down,  but  build  and  plant  them, 
Jer.  xxx.-xxxi.  Again,  "  Israel  is  a  scattered  sheep  :  the  lions 
have  driven  him  away :  first,  the  king  of  Assyria  hath  de- 
voured him  :  and  last,  this  Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  Babylon, 
hath  broken  his  bones.  Therefore,  thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of 
hosts,  the  God  of  Israel,  Behold,  I  will  punish  the  king  of 
Babylon  and  his  land  as  I  have  punished  the  king  of  Assyria, 
and  I  will  brinsr  Israel  as-ain  to  his  habitation."  "  Tlie  chil- 
dren  of  Israel  and  the  children  of  Judah  were  oppressed  to- 
gether," and  they  should  be  redeemed  together,  Isa.  xxxiii. 
Ezekiel  is  equally  clear :  "  The  word  of  the  Lord  came  unto 
me  again  saying.  Moreover  thou  son  of  man,  take  tliec  one 
stick,  and  write  upon  it.  For  Judah  and  for  the  children  of 
Israel  his  companions :  then  take  another  stick,  and  write 
upon  it.  For  Joseph,  the  stick  of  Ephraim,  and  for  all  the 
house  of  Israel  his  companions  :  and  join  them  one  to  another 
into  one  stick  ;  and  they  shall  become  one  in  thy  hand.  And 
when  the  children  of  thy  people  shall  speak  unto  thee,  saying, 
Wilt  thou  not  show  us  what  thou  meanest  by  these?  Say  thou 
unto  them,  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  Behold,  I  will  take  the 
stick  of  Joseph,  which  is  in  the  hand  of  Ephraim,  and  the 
tribes  of  Israel  his  fellows,  and  will  put  them  with  him,  even 
with  the  stick  of  Judah,  and  make  them  one  stick,  and  they 
shall  be  one  in  my  hand."  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  Behold, 
I  will  take  the  children  of  Israel  from  among  the  heathen, 


542  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

whither  they  be  gone,  and  will  gather  them  on  every  side,  and 
bring  them  into  their  own  land  :  and  I  will  make  them  one 
nation  in  the  land  upon  the  monntains  of  Israel ;  and  one  king 
shall  be  to  them  all ;  and  they  shall  be  no  more  two  nations, 
neither  shall  tliey  be  divided  into  two  kingdoms  any  more  at 
all,"  Ezek.  xxxvii.  1-28  ;  xxxiv.-xxxvi.  These  prophecies  are 
conclusive,  and  were  fulfilled  after  the  decree  of  Cyrus.  Judah- 
could  not  return  without  Israel,  nor  Israel  without  Judah. 
Representatives  of  the  twelve  tribes  came  back  all  together, 
and  the  two  kingdoms,  once  more  and  forever  united,  fonned 
one  people.  When  Jeremiah  fixed  the  time  of  the  end  of  the 
captivity  of  Judah,  he  fixed  the  time  of  the  end  of  the  captiv- 
ity of  Israel  also,  for  the  two  were  to  return  together. 

We  are  certain  that  we  understand  these  prophecies  cor- 
rectly, because  they  were  vmderstood  precisely  in  the  same 
way  by  those  who  in  God's  purpose  fulfilled  them,  whose  lead 
we  follow.  Daniel  in  his  prayer,  (ch.  ix.,)  confessed  the  sin  of 
both  Judah  and  Israel,  and  besought  deliverance  and  mercy 
for  all — the  same  mercy  that  before  brought  them  all  out  of 
Egypt.  Tlie  decree  of  Cyrus  was  in  the  name  of  the  God  of 
Israel,  (Ezra  i--x.,)  and  addressed  to  all  Israel  in  his  empire. 
The  decree  of  Artaxerxes  (Ezra  vii.)  has  the  like  address. 

A  second  proof  that  the  ten  tribes  were  not  lost  in  captiv- 
ity is,  that  no  notice  is  taken  of  that  assumed  fact,  and  no  com- 
plaint made  that  they  refused  to  return,  by  any  of  the  distin- 
guished actors  of  the  times,  namely,  Daniel,  Zerubbabel,  Ezra, 
Habakkuk,  Zechariah,  JiTehemiah  and  Malachi. 

A  third  proof  is  the  matter  of  fact  itself ;  for  an  induction 
of  particulars  shows  that  there  was  an  actual  return  of  a  repre- 
sentation of  all  the  tribes.  Zerubbabel's  company,  according 
to  Ezra's  numbering,  ii.  1-60,  consisted  of  29,818  persons,  but, 
in  vs.  64-65,  he  puts  down  the  whole  congregation  together 
42,360,  exclusive  of  male  and  female  servants  and  singers. 
How  do  we  account  for  it  that  he  numbers  some  and  not  others  ? 
On  the  supposition  that  the  tribes  of  Judah,  Benjamin,  and 
Levi,  were  enrolled  and  numbered  by  their  regular  genealogies  ; 
— a  thing  which  could  not  be  done  for  the  other  tribes,  be- 
cause, like  the  priests  in  vs.  61-63,  they  could  not  accurately 


THE  TEN   TEIBE3   WERE   KOT   LOST.  543 

sliow  their  genealogies.  If  this  be  a  true  solution,  then  there 
are  12,542  persons  to  be  allotted  to  the  ten  tribes,  exclusive 
of  the  T,337  servants  and  245  singers.  Nehemiah  numbers 
this  same  company  at  31,089,  differing  with  Ezra  by  1,271, 
but  agreeing  with  him  in  the  grand  total.  In  whatever  way 
the  two  enumerations  are  reconciled,  each  has  a  large  num- 
ber to  be  distributed  among  the  ten  tribes.  Support  is  given 
to  this  conclusion  in  the  chapter  itself,  for  Ezra  states,  (ii.  1,) 
"  These  came  again  unto  Jerusalem  and  Judah,  every  one  into 
his  city."  He  records  their  names  and  numbers  to  the  amount 
of  29,818 ;  and,  giving  the  sum  of  the  whole  congregation, 
beside  the  servants  and  singers,  concludes  thus,  (vs.  70,)  "  So 
the  priests  and  the  Levites,  and  some  of  the  people,  and  the 
singers,  and  the  porters,  and  the  Nethinims  dwelt  in  their  cities, 
and  all  Israel  in  their  cities."  Again,  in  1  Chron.  ix.  1-3, 
after  the  return  from  the  captivity,  it  is  said,  "  And  in  Jerusa- 
lem dwelt  of  the  children  of  Judah,  and  of  the  children  of 
Benjamin,  and  of  the  children  of  Ephraim  and  of  JManasseh." 
This  incorporation  of  the  ten  tribes  with  Judah  began  as  lar 
back  as  the  division  of  the  kingdoms,  when  numbers  of  pious 
persons  removed  from  their  own  tribes,  and  settled  in  Judah 
and  Benjamin,  2  Chron.  xi.  16.  At  the  dedication  of  the  sec- 
ond temple,  twelve  he-goats  were  offered  for  a  sin-offering  for 
all  Israel,  according  to  the  number  of  the  tribes  of  Israel,  Ezra 
vi.  17.  The  tribes  were  in  the  assembly,  and  were  represented 
in  the  sacrifices  on  the  altar.  Again,  when  Ezra  came  up  to 
Jerusalem  with  his  company,  they  offered  "  twelve  bullocks  " 
for  all  Israel,  and  "  twelve  he-goats  "  for  a  sin-oftering.  The 
tribes  were  all  represented  in  his  company  also,  Ezra  viii.  35. 

A  fourth  proof  is,  that  the  Jews  have  never  allowed  tliat 
the  ten  tribes  were  lost.  Nothing  of  the  kind  appears  in  any 
of  the  apochryphal  books,  or  in  Josephus,  or  in  Philo,  or 
in  any  of  the  rabbinical  writings  ;  to  which  may  be  added  that 
there  is  not  the  slightest  trace  of  any  such  loss  in  the  New 
Testament,  but  all  the  evidence  on  the  point  is  to  the  contrary. 

If  the  ten  tribes  were  lost,  they  were  not  lost  to  our  Lord, 
who  knew  all  things  under  the  whole  heaven,  for  He  inti 
mates  no  such  thing.     At  His  advent  the  great  body  of  Israel- 


544  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF    GOD. 

ites  dwelt  in  Judea,  and  in  the  provinces  immediately  adjoin- 
ing, constituting  "  His  own  "  people — "  the  lost  sheep  of  thd 
house  of  Israel " — to  whom,  as  their  long-expected  Redeemer, 
He  came  ;  to  whom  as  "  a  minister  of  the  circumcision  "  He 
exclusively  ministered,  never  once  crossing  the  boundaries  of 
His  country  ;  to  whom  He  sent  His  twelve  Apostles  and  the 
seventy  disciples,  charging  them  to  go  to  none  other.  He 
sent  them  on  no  missions  to  tribes  beyond.  He  chose  twelve 
Apostles,  one  for  each  tribe,  and  said  they  should  "  sit  upon 
twelve  thrones  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel."  The 
Jews  "  of  the  dispersion  "  came  up  from  all  the  countries  of 
the  world,  especially  at  the  great  feasts.  Our  Lord  mingled 
with  and  preached  to  tliem,  treating  them  and  all  the  stock 
of  Israel  as  the  Israel  of  God  ;  and  by  the  Israel  of  God — not 
by  the  tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin  only,  but  by  all  the  rest 
also — He  was  rejected  and  crucified.  "  The  men  of  Israel  " 
"  killed  the  Prince  of  Life,"  Acts  iii.  15,  and  said,  "  His  blood  be 
on  us  and  on  our  children,  Matt,  xxvii.  Pilate  wrote  the 
superscription  over  His  cross,  "  This  is  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
the  King  of  the  Jews  ;  "  and  the  Jews,  wherever  found  on  the 
face  of  the  whole  earth,  even  to  this  day,  (save  "  the  elect " 
of  Israel,)  cry  out  upon  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  "  Crucify  Him, 
crucify  Him  !  "  Anna,  of  the  tribe  of  Asher,  in  the  temple 
spake  of  the  child  Jesus  to  all  ''  who  looked  for  redemption  in 
Jerusalem,"  Luke  ii.  36-38.  The  Apostle  Paul  speaks  of 
"  our  twelve  tribes,  hoping  to  come  to  the  promise  of  their 
Messiah,"  Acts  xxvi.  7.  The  Apostle  James  addresses  his 
epistle  "  to  the  twelve  tribes  which  are  "  (not  lost,  but)  "  scat- 
tered abroad."  The  Apostles  intimate  no  such,  loss ;  they 
never  sent  out  any  to  search  out  the  lost  tribes.  The  whole 
earth  has  been  travelled  over  and  searched,  and  they  have  not 
been  found  yet,  and  never  will  be,  since  they  never  were  lost. 
The  tribes  are  mingled  and  scattered  everywhere.  The  nat- 
ural branches  have  been  broken  off  from  their  own  olive  tree, 
for  unbelief,  and  the  Gentiles  have  been  grafted  in.  "  Blind- 
ness in  part,"  (there  is  now,  always  has  been,  and  will  be  an 
election  according  to  grace,)  "  hath  happened  to  Israel,"  to 
continue  "  until  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  be  come  in,  and  so 


CONDITION   OF    RELIGION.  545 

all  Israel  shall  be  saved,"  Eom.  xi.  1-3C.  The  fundamental 
error  of  this  strange  notion  lies  in  a  total  neglect  or  perversion 
of  the  prophecies,  Avhich  unite  tlic  return  of  the  ten  ti-ibes  with 
that  of  Judah  and  Benjamin,  the  return  of  Israel  being  bound 
up  in  that  of 'Judah.  Portions  of  all  tlie  tribes  (more  or  less) 
were  left  in  the  land  of  captivity,  but  it  is  not  true  that  eitlier 
one  or  more  of  the  tribes  were  really  lost. 

A  remnant  of  all  returned,  "  How  unsearchable  arc  God's 
judgments,  and  His  ways  ])ast  finding  out ! "  Now  for  the 
third  time  in  her  history  is  the  visible  Church  brought  low  in 
numbers.  The  ark  contained  all  that  were  left  of  her  mem- 
bers after  the  flood.  At  the  call  of  Abraham  but  a  few  existed 
out  of  his  own  family  and  household,  and  now  a  remnant  oidy 
from  a  multitude  once  like  the  stars  of  heaven,  repeoj)lcd  the 
holy  land.  We  look  forward  fort\vo  hundred  years,  and  a  sad 
reduction  occurs  again  under  the  persecutions  which  originated 
with  Antiochus  Epiphanes.  Still  two  hundred  years  later,  we 
perceive  another  great  reduction  at  the  advent  of  Christ,  bv 
prevailing  iniquity,  and  by  the  destruction  of  the  civil  state  of 
the  Church.  Since  this  last  event,  and  the  spreading  of  the 
Church  into  all  nations,  her  numbers  have  multiplied;  but, 
from  time  to  time,  through  persecutions,  prosperity,  and  apos- 
tasies, she  has  been  subjected  to  great  reverses. 

The  state  of  religion  in  the  Church  from  the  decree  of 
Cyrus,  B.  C.  536,  to  the  close  of  the  last  administration  of 
Nehemiah  and  prophesying  of  Malachi,  or  to  the  close  of  the 
Old  Testament,  B.  C.  397,  or  380,  (about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years,)  is  but  imperfectly  known. 

There  were  great  searchings  of  heart  and  sincere  turning  to 
the  Lord  of  very  many,  of  whom  Daniel  is  a  distinguished 
example.  About  the  period  of  the  expiration  of  the  seventy 
years  of  the  captivity,  and  when  Cyrus  issued  his  decree,  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  was  more  abundantly  poured  out.  The 
people  were  more  abundantly  moved  to  return,  to  make  every 
necessary  sacrifice,  and  to  long  for  deliverance  from  all  their 
sins  and  their  enemies,  that  they  might  once  more  serve  God' 
in  singleness  of  mind.  The  wheat  was  sifted  from  the  chaff, 
and  the  gold  refined  from  tlie  dross.  Those  that  returned  were 
35 


546  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH    OF   GOD. 

the  best  of  the  people,  and  the  Lord  planted  His  vineyard 
again  with  goodly  seed. 

They  exhibited  their  piety  on  their  arrival  in  Jndea  by 
immediately  establishing  public  worship  at  Jerusalem  ;  by 
making  provision  for  its  support  and  perpetuity  ;.  by  contribu- 
tions for  the  building  of  the  temple,  and  by  an  early  com- 
mencement of  the  work,  which  they  carried  on  amidst  dis- 
couragements, until  forcibly  stopped  by  public  authority.  For 
a  season  their  zeal  declined,  and  they  said,  "  It  is  not  the  time 
in  God's  providence  for  building  His  house."  The  chastise- 
ments of  God,  and  the  preaching  of  Haggai  and  Zechariah 
roused  them  from  their  apostasy,  and  the  temple  was  com- 
pleted and  dedicated. 

Fifty-eight  years  after  this  event  (B.  C.  516  to  458)  Ezra 
was  appointed  governor  of  Judea.  At  his  accession,  the  people 
liad  relaxed  in  their  strict  obedience  to  the  law,  and  had  con- 
tracted forbidden  marriages  with  the  heathen,  which  practice 
lie  abolished.  Under  his  pious  administration,  which  lasted 
twelve  years,  religion  revived.  It  was  still  further  revived 
under  his  able  and  energetic  successor,  Nehemiah,  for  twelve 
years  longer,  at  the  expiration  of  which  time  he  went  back  to 
Persia,  and  was  absent  eight  or  nine  years.  On  his  return,  he 
discovered  that  the  people  had  gone  backward,  and  he  zeal- 
ously effected  a  reformation.  He  restored  the  sanctity  of  the 
sabbath,  the  revenues  of  the  ministry,  cleansed  a  part  of  the 
temple  that  had  been  defiled,  and  caused  the  people  again  to 
put  away  their  strange  wives  and  to  renounce  their  connection 
with  the  heathen.  In  his  faithful  labors  he  was  assisted  by  the 
ministry  of  the  prophet  Malachi. 

Distinguished  saints  figured  in  the  ca^Dtivity — of  whom 
Daniel  and  his  three  friends,  Ezekiel,  Mordecai,  and  Esther 
are  examples, — and  also  after  the  return  to  Judea,  of  whom 
Zerubbabel,  Jeshua,  Ezra,  [N^ehemiah,  Habakkuk,  Zechariah, 
and  Malachi  are  examples,  and  these  latter  were  supported  by 
a  devoted  people. 

Much  did  they  accomplish  under  great  discouragements, 
and  in  the  endm-ance  of  great  privations.  They  repeopled 
Judea,  rebuilt  the  decayed  cities  of  the  land,  the  temple,  and 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT.  547 

the  holy  city,  restored  the  worship  and  order  of  God's  house, 
and  the  last  pages  of  the  inspired  history  of  the  Church  in  the 
Old  Testament  are  enlivened  with  the  regular  course  of  her 
services,  and  the  pious  activity  of  her  members,  and  brightened 
M'ith  the  approving  smiles  of  her  covenant-keeping  God. 

The  Church  carried  with  her  into  captivity  the  oracles  of 
God,  and  brought  them  back  enriched  by  the  addition  of  such 
Psalms  as  were  composed  during  and  about  the  time  of  the 
captivity,  by  the  prophecies  and  lamentations  of  Jeremiah, 
and  by  the  prophecies  of  Ezekiel.  To  complete  the  sacred 
canon  after  the  captivity,  there  must  be  added  Daniel,  Ezra, 
Habakkuk,  Zechariah,  IS^ehemiah,  and  Malachi. 

The  unbroken  and  received  tradition  of  the  Church  from 
the  close  of  the  Old  Testament  to  the  advent  of  Christ,  is,  that 
Ezra  the  scribe  was  the  principal  person  by  whom  the  Old 
Testament  canon  was  carefully  collected,  arranged,  and  pub- 
lished, as  we  now  have  it  in  our  present  Hebrew  text,  disposed 
in  thirty-nine  books,  as  follows :  Genesis,  Exodus,  Leviticus, 
Numbers,  Deuteronomy,  Joshua,  Judges,  Ruth,  1st  and  2d 
Samuel,  1st  and  2d  Kings,  1st  and  2d  Chronicles,  Ezra,  Nehe- 
miah,  and  Esther ;  Job,  Psalms,  Proverbs,  Ecclesiastes,  and 
Song  of  Solomon ;  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Lamentations,  Ezekiel, 
and  Daniel ;  Hosea,  Joel,  Amos,  Obadiah,  Jonah,  Micah, 
!N^ahum,  Habaklvuk,  Zephaniah,  Haggai,  Zechariah,  and 
Malachi — all  preserved  and  handed  down  with  the  greatest 
reverence  and  most  jealous  care  by  the  Church  to  the  coming 
of  our  Lord,  who  received  this  canon  and  rested  upon  it  as  the 
genuine,  authoritative,  and  all-sufficient  AVord  of  God.  He 
commanded  the  children  of  Israel  to  search  and  to  obey  it, 
saying,  "  Search  the  Scriptures,  for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have 
eternal  life,  and  they  are  they  which  testify  of  me."  Tliese 
are  the  Holy  Scriptures  quoted  and  referred  to  by  all  the  in- 
spired writers  of  the  New  Testament,  and  concerning  which 
the  Apostle  Paul  makes  this  affirmation  in  his  epistle  to 
Timothy :  "  The  Holy  Scriptures  are  able  to  make  us  wise 
unto  salvation,  through  faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  All 
Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  is  profitable  for 
doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  in  right- 


54:8  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF   GOD. 

eousness,  that  the  man  of  God  may  be  perfect,  thoroughly  fur- 
nished unto  all  good  works  " — Scriptures  which  the  Apostles 
carried  with  them  into  all  the  w^orld  preaching  the  Gospel  to 
every  creature,  and  out  of  which  they  reasoned  in  order  to 
bring  all  men  unto  the  obedience  of  faith,  John  v.  39  ;  x.  35  ;  2 
Tim.  iii.  15-17  ;  Pss.  xix.,  csix.  These  tliirty-nine  books  consti- 
tuted the  only  and  all-sufficient  rule  of  faith  and  23ractice  to  the 
Clmrch  from  the  death  of  Malachi,  until  tlie  addition  unto 
them  of  the  twenty-seven  inspired  books  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, some  four  hundred  years  after,  and  which  then  com- 
pleted tlie  volume  of  the  revelation  of  God  to  His  Church  and 
the  world — His  genuine  and  authoritative  AVord,  contained  in 
the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 

A  brief  summary  of  the  history  of  the  Church  now  passed 
over  will  bring  the  present  volume  to  a  conclusion. 

For  two  thousand  and  eighty-three  years,  from  the  creation 
to  the  call  of  Abraham,  the  Church  existed  a  visible  body, 
but  without  a  distinctly  revealed  organization. 

The  events  which  preceded  and  were  introductory  to  its 
establishment,  were  the  creation,  and  tlie  primitive  holy  and 
happy  state  of  man  ;  the  mamage  of  our  first  parents,  tlie 
pattern  and  example  of  all  marriages  that  should  come  after ; 
their  first  blissful  residence  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  which  was 
a  type  of  heaven  ;  their  trial  in  that  garden  imder  the  cove- 
nant of  works,  in  which  Adam  was  constituted  the  federal 
Jiead  of  his  race,  standing  not  only  for  himself,  but  for  all  his 
posterity  descending  from  him  by  ordinary  generation  ;  the 
institution  of  the  holy  sabbath,  consecrated  to  the  worship  of 
God,  and  the  promotion  of  the  spiritual  and  temporal  interests 
of  men,  and  of  universal  and  perpetual  obligation ;  the  tempt- 
ation, which  revealed  the  existence  and  agency  of  another  and 
superior  order  of  accountable  creatures ;  the  angels  divided 
according  to  their  character  into  the  evil  and  good ;  and  the 
success  of  the  temptation,  which  resulted  in  the  sin,  ftill,  con- 
demnation, depravity,  and  ruin  of  our  first  parents  and  their 
whole  race  under  the  covenant  of  works  forever  ! 

These  events  were  introductions  to  the  establishment  of  the 
Church  ;  and  the  last  of  them,  namely,  the  fall,  the  immediate 


SUMMARY.  549 

occasion  of  it :  for,  upon  the  fall,  the  gracious  and  eternal 
purpose  of  God  to  deliver  a  portion  of  the  race  from  a  state  of 
sin  and  condemnation,  and  bring  them  into  a  state  of  grace 
and  salvation  by  a  Redeemer,  was  announced  in  the  promise, 
"  The  seed  of  the  -woman  shall  bruise  the  serpent's  head." 
This  seed  is  the  foundation  on  which  the  Church  is  built,  even 
Jesus  Christ  the  chief  corner-stone  ;  and  from  this  moment  the 
history  of  that  Church  in  time  begins,  which  from  eternity 
"  He  purchased  with  His  blood."  The  covenant  of  grace,  to 
which  lost  men  were  now  transferred,  and  which  presupposed 
and  required  for  its  own  existence  and  operation  the  existence, 
operation,  and  failure  of  the  covenant  of  works,  now  for  the 
first  time  appears,  and  discloses  the  Church  enfolded  in  its 
bosom,  preserved,  perpetuated,  and  finally  j)erfected  and  glori- 
fied by  that  covenant ;  so  that  we  may  truly  and  boldly  say, 
JS^o  covenant,  no  Church.  Hence,  the  history  proper  of  the 
Church  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  history  of  the  devel- 
opment and  progress  of  the  covenant  itself — a  covenant  whicli 
lias  the  glorious  and  ever-blessed  God  both  for  its  author  and 
end,  man  for  its  subject,  and  the  world  for  its  stage — which 
begins  in  eternity  past,  is  manifested  in  time,  and  consum- 
mated in  eternity  to  come. 

Sacrifices  were  divinely  instituted  in  connection  with  the 
promise  of  a  Redeemer,  typical  of  Him — the  one  great  sacri- 
fice for  sin  which  He  in  the  fulness  of  time  should  make  of 
Himself  in  the  flesh — and  demonstrating  also  the  i)rinciple 
upon  which  sinners  would  be  saved,  namely,  by  substitution, 
(the  just  dying  for  the  unjust,)  and  establishing  the  trutii  that 
man  could  no  more  approach  God  acceptably,  save  througli 
the  merits  and  mediation  of  a  Redeemer. 

This  Divine  Redeemer  took  possession  of  His  mediatorial 
throne,  and  put  the  covenant  of  grace  at  once  into  efficient 
operation,  which  continues  in  all  ages  the  same,  although 
difFcrently  administered  before  and  after  His  coming. 

Adam  and  Eve,  the  original  and  only  parents  of  all  man- 
kind, driven  out  of  Eden  nnder  the  curse  of  the  covenant  of 
works,  and  placed  under  the  covenant  of  grace,  by  its  saving 


550  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF   GOD. 

application  to  their  souls  became  the  first  members  and  seed 
of  the  Church. 

The  war  of  the  flesh  against  the  spirit  burst  forth  in  the 
family  of  Adam  ;  and  Cain,  the  son  born  after  the  flesh,  per- 
secuted Abel,  the  son  born  after  the  spirit.  Abel  was  tlie  first 
martyr  and  heir  of  eternal  life,  and  Cain  the  first  excommuni- 
cate and  heir  of  eternal  death.  Saints  and  sinners  have 
divided  the  Avorld  ever  since. 

A  line  of  spiritual  succession  and  of  genealogical  descent 
from  Adam  to  Christ,  by  God's  .ordination,  now  began,  and, 
being  prophetic  of  the  Saviour,  always  kept  Him  in  the  re- 
membrance and  faith  of  the  Church.  That  faitli  was  daily 
enlightened  and  confirmed  by  the  offering  of  sacrifices,  and  the 
teachings  of  the  believing  patriarchs — some  of  whom  were  in 
an  especial  manner  prophets  and  preachers  of  righteousness. 
Consj)icuous  among  them  was  Enoch,  the  seventh  from  Adam, 
who  in  his  prophecy  disclosed  the  extensive  and  clear  knowl- 
edge of  divine  truth  possessed  by  the  Church  in  his  days,  and 
who'  for  his  great  faith  was  translated  that  he  should  not  see 
death ;  his  translation  determining  the  necessary  union  of  soul 
and  body  in  a  state  of  future  blessedness,  and,  by  consequence, 
the  resurrection  of  the  body. 

The  lives  of  the  early  fathers  of  mankind  were  lengthened 
into  centuries,  for  the  wisest  and  best  purposes,  and,  among 
the  rest,  for  the  better  preservation  and  transmission  of  the 
truth  and  revelations  of  God.  In  those  early  ages,  the  line  of 
separation  was  drawn  between  the  Church  and  the  world,  and 
each  bore  a  distinctive  title :  the  one,  that  of "  the  sons  of 
God,"  and  the  other,  that  of  "  the  sons  of  men." 

Wickedness  increased  with  the  increase  of  the  race.  The 
Church  yielded  to  abounding  iniquity,  and  declined  in  piety 
and  numbers  until  it  fell  oft'  to  the  single  family  of  Noah. 
For  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  the  long-sufl*ering  of  God 
waited  upon  a  guilty  world,  while  the  ark  was  preparing,  and 
Noah  meanwhile  preaching  repentance.  The  flood  finally 
came  and  destroyed  them  all,  save  the  remnant  of  eight  souls 
— the  remnant  of  a   once  numerous    Church   and  populous 


SUMMARY.  551 

world  !  The  patriarch  took  possession  of  the  earth,  and  began 
a  second  time  to  people  it  spiritually  and  naturally — a  second 
Adam,  receiving  the  same  promises  and  commands — a  second 
head  of  the  Church  and  of  the  race— a  preacher  of  righteous- 
ness, communicating  to  the  new  world  all  the  truths  which  he 
had  brought  Avith  him  from  the  old.  Altars  are  first  men- 
tioned in  his  family.  Ilis  prophecies  concerning  his  three 
sons  sketch  the  future  history  of  the  Church  and  the  world, 
and  form  the  groundwork  of  all  subsequent  prophecies. 

His  posterity  determining  to  remain  together,  in  opposition 
to  the  command  of  God  to  multiply  and  fill  the  earth,  were  by 
His  miraculous  power  scattered  abroad  from  Babel,  and  in 
their  dispersion  gave  rise  to  the  various  nations  and  tongues 
that  fill  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe.  "Wherever  they  set- 
tled, they  caiTied  with  them  a  knowledge  of  the  facts  and  doc- 
trines of  true  religion — facts  and  doctrines  which  may  be 
traced  with  greater  or  less  distinctness  in  the  sacred  traditions 
and  religious  systems  of  mankind  even  down  to  the  present 
day. 

After  the  dispersion,  the  Holy  Scriptures  became,  more 
evidently  than  before,  the  history  of  the  Church  ;  for,  omitting 
Ham  and  Japheth,  Shem  is  placed  in  the  line  of  spiritual  suc- 
cession, and  henceforward  not  even  all  hi^  posterity,  but  only 
so  much  of  it  as  falls  within  that  line,  occupies  the  sacred 
pages.  We  move  on  from  the  flood  to  the  call  of  Abraham,  at 
a  single  step  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  years,  with  no  inci- 
dents save  the  confusion  of  languages,  the  dispersion,  and  the 
links  in  the  chain  of  spiritual  succession — the  genealogy  of  our 
Lord.  By  other  contemporary  revelation  in  the  book  of  Job, 
we  learn  tlie  rise  of  idolatry,  some  two  hundred  years  after  the 
flood,  about  the  times  of  Terah,  the  father  of  Abraham.  This 
hoiTid  oflEspring  of  human  depravity,  once  introduced,  spread 
rapidly  and  universally,  swallowing  up  the  knowledge  of  the 
true  God.  It  has  held  its  footing  ever  since,  and  has  been  the 
plague  of  the  Church  and  the  ruin  of  the  world. 

Contemporary  with  Terah  was  Job,  that  eminent  man  of 
God,  raised  up  to  prepare  his  wonderful  book,  that  invaluable 


552  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH   OF    GOD. 

treasury  of  the  doctrines  and  duties  of  the  religion  of  Christ 
most  firmly  held  by  the  Church  in  his  days,  and  most  beauti- 
fully illustrated  in  his  own  life  of  faith. 

We  have  reached  the  end  of  the  long  period  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  Church  as  a  visible  body,  yet  without  any  particu- 
larly revealed  organization  ;  and  a  brief  summary  of  her  ordi- 
nances and  doctrines,  gathered  from  the  first  eleven  chapters 
of  the  book  of  Genesis  and  the  book  of  Job,  may  in  this  place 
be  very  properly  introduced,  as  follows  :  The  Church  enjoyed 
the  watch  and  care  of  her  Divine  Head,  who  at  sundry  times 
and  in  divers  manners  communicated  His  mind  and  will  for  her 
edification  and  government,  and  executed  judgments  also  on 
the  earth.  She  enjoyed  her  sabbaths  of  rest  and  devotion  ; 
her  institution  of  marriage  ;  the  worship  and  sacrifices  ;  the 
ministration  of  her  ofiicers,  embracing  patriarchs,  prophets,  and 
preachers  of  righteousness  ;  a  knowledge  of  the  fundamental 
and  saving  doctrines  of  revelation  concerning  God,  the  creator, 
preserver,  benefactor,  lawgiver,  and  judge  of  all  the  earth  ; 
concerning  angels,  both  good  and  evil ;  man,  in  his  origi- 
nal, lapsed,  and  ruined  state ;  the  seed  of  the  woman.  His 
glorious  person,  human  and  divine ;  His  perfect  work  of 
redemption,  by  the  coming  sacrifice  of  Himself  for  the  sins  of 
His  people  ;  concerning  the  existence,  agency,  and  divinity  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  necessity  of  His  work  upon  the  souls 
of  men  for  regeneration  and  sanctification  ;  the  immortality  of 
the  soul ;  the  future  happiness  of  the  righteous  and  misery  of 
the  wicked;  and  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  and  the  final  judg- 
ment. The  Church  enjoyed  the  lively  faith  and  holy  conver- 
sation of  her  members  in  Abel,  Enoch,  ISToah,  Job,  and  others. 
Multitudes  walked  with  God  in  these  two  thousand  and  eighty- 
three  years,  and  entered  into  rest.  Jesus  Christ,  bringing 
"  life  and  immortality  to  light  through  the  Gospel,"  was  re- 
vealed and  preached  in  the  promise  at  the  fall ;  for  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness  arose  with  healing  in  his  beams,  and  shone 
^through  the  promise,  the  type,  the  shadow ;  and  the  saints  of 
God  saw  His  glory,  believed,  rejoiced,  and  lived. 

We  enter  the  second  stage — the  Church  existing  in  a  visible 


SUMMARY.  553 

and  organized  body,  separated  from  the  world, — and  proceed 
with  its  history  from  the  call  of  Abraham  to  the  close  of  the 
Old  Testament  canon. 

T]iat  body,  which  for  so  many  ages  dwelt  among  the  na- 
tions, and  was  confined  in  membership  and  officers  to  no  par- 
ticnlar  tribe  or  people,  alters  its  way  on  tlie  earth.  The  call 
of  Abraham  introduces  a  new  era  in  its  history.  He  is  a 
Syrian,  called  out  of  Ur  of  tlie  Chaldees,  separated  from  all 
believers  of  his  day,  and  led  into  Canaan,  where  God  enters 
into  a  covenant  with  him  and  his  seed,  setting  them  apart  and 
constituting  them  His  visible  and  organized  Church — a  cove- 
nant, having  its  parties,  its  conditions  both  on  the  one  part 
and  the  other,  its  rewards,  penalties,  sign,  seal,  and  assigned 
duration — a  covenant  not  of  the  nature  of  the  covenant  of 
works,  nor  a  renewal  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  but  rather 
a  carrying  out  and  a  fuller  unfolding  of  the  precious  promises 
and  provisions  of  that  covenant.  Its  peculiarity,  as  made  with 
Abraham,  consists  in  the  separation  of  himself  and  his  seed  to 
be  the  only  visible  and  organized  body  of  God's  people,  which 
should  be  the  depository  of  God's  truth,  and  the  heir  of  the 
promises  and  blessings  of  the  covenant  for  all  nations  and  all 
time.  It  covered  all  the  wants  and  states  of  the  visible  Church. 
It  was  temporal  in  the  provisions  of  a  numerous  seed,  of  a 
land  to  be  occupied,  and  a  civil  government  to  be  continued 
until  Shiloli  should  come.  It  was  also  s]:«ritual  in  its  provisions 
of  eternal  life  throngh  the  promised  Redeemer,  and  in  the  all- 
comprehensive  assurance  of  God,  "I  will  be  a  God  to  thee  and 
to  thy  seed  after  thee."  It  is  a  covenant  enduring  while  the 
Church  endures. 

In  this  covenant,  upon  Ilis  own  infinite  authority,  God 
ordained  what  persons  should  be  members  of  Ilis  visible 
Church,  namely,  believers  together  with  their  infant  children ; 
— an  ordination  in  respect  to  membership  which  has  never 
been  altered  or  abrogated  in  any  manner  whatever.  To  each 
of  these  classes  of  members  lie  further  ordained  that  the  sign 
and  seal  of  the  covenant  should  be  applied  ;  and  the  visible 
Church  here  established  in  Abraham  continues  the  same  under 
both  the  Old   and  New  Dispensations.     Tlie  sign   and   seal 


664:  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHUKCH   OF    GOD. 

under  the  Old  Dispensation,  prophetic  of  Christ  to  come,  gave 
way  to  the  sign  and  seal  under  the  New,  (of  tlie  same  nature, 
though  differing  in  form  and  of  more  general  application,) 
looking  back  to  Christ  as  having  come.  The  Chm'ch  under 
the  ISTew  Dispensation,  no  longer  confined  to  one  people, 
(although  provision  was  made  in  the  early  constitution  for  the 
introduction  of  all  of  every  nation  who  chose  to  come,)  was 
enlarged  by  the  accession  of  the  Gentiles. 

During  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  headship  of  the  Father 
of  the  faithful,  several  things  make  their  a^^pearance  for  the 
first  time  among  the  people  of  God.  First,  polygamy,  toler- 
ated for  the  times  present,  but  abrogated  by  our  Lord  at  His 
coming,  and  the  original  law  of  marriage  restored.  Second, 
the  institution  of  slavery,  one  of  many  forms  of  civil  gov- 
ernment, and  with  which  the  Church  has  had  connection  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent  ever  since.  Third,  war,  and,  when  de- 
fensive, justified.  Fourth,  a  distinct  notice  of  the  divinely  in- 
stituted order  of  the  priesthood  in  the  person  of  Melchizedek 
— a  type  of  Christ ;  and  fifth,  the  divinely  instituted  mode  of 
the  support  of  the  priesthood,  by  a  system  of  tithes-^an  an- 
cient order  and  an  ancient  system. 

The  visible  Church  sojourned  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  To 
Abraham  succeeded  Isaac,  and  to  Isaac,  Jacob,  who  was  a 
notable  example  of  the  sovereign  election  of  God — an  election 
which  obtains  in  the  case  of  every  true  member  of  His  Church, 
for  the  true  Church  is  composed  of  the  elect,  and  no  more. 
By  the  foreordination  of  God  the  Church  under  Jacob  re- 
moves for  a  time  into  the  land  of  Egypt,  whither  Joseph  had 
been  sent  to  prepare  the  way  before  it,  after  it  had  sojourned 
two  hundred  and  fifteen  years  in  the  land  of  promise.  The 
same  number  of  years  the  Church  sojourned  in  Egypt,  and, 
on  account  of  idolatry  and  sin,  was  subjected  to  the  bondage 
of  the  Egyptians  for  one  hundred  and  fifteen  years  of  that 
time,  which  bondage  commenced  after  the  death  of  Joseph 
who  had  succeeded  his  father  Jacob.  Here  the  Church  jjre- 
served  her  form  of  worship,  order,  and  civil  government,  so 
far  as  was  consistent  with  subjection  to  the  Egyptians. 
Finally,  she  was  delivered  by  the  Lord,  with  a  high  hand. 


SUMMARY.  555 

under  the  headship  of  Moses,  -working  by  miracles  and 
prophecy,  (two  pillars  of  Revelation,)  which  fully  con- 
firmed the  divine  mission  of  Moses,  and  that  of  all  other  in- 
spired prophets  and  teachers. 

The  first  great  feast  of  the  Church,  the  passover,  was  cele- 
brated the  night  of  the  exodus.  It  was  typical  of  Christ,  find- 
ing its  fulfilment  in  the  Lord's  supper.  At  the  conclusion  of 
the  feast,  the  Church  went  up  following  the  lead  of  her  Great 
Head  in  a  pillar  of  fire  by  night  and  of  cloud  by  day. 

The  Israelites  crossed  the  lied  Sea,  and,  escaping  forever 
from  Egypt,  entered  the  wilderness.  Manna,  typical  of  the 
true  bread  from  heaven,  fell  for  their  sustenance ;  and  water 
flowed  for  their  thirst  from  the  rock,  typical  of  the  Rock 
Christ  Jesus.  Before  Sinai,  God  met  with  His  redeemed  and 
covenant  people,  and  delivered  to  them  the  law  by  Moses. 
The  ecclesiastical  law,  having  reference  to  the  Church  as 
such,  embraced  under  four  heads  the  moral,  ceremonial, 
constitutional,  and  disciplinary ;  and  the  civil,  having  ref- 
erence to  the  Church  as  a  state,  determined  the  form  of  gov- 
ernment a  theocracy,  and  also  the  rights  of  persons  and  things, 
the  oflScers  ordinary  and  extraordinary,  the  independence  and 
union  of  the  tribes,  forming  them  into  a  commonwealth  to 
take  rank  among  the  nations — the  law  of  Moses  being  indeed 
but  a  gathering  up,  an  arranging,  amplifying,  and  perfecting 
of  all  that  went  before  of  God's  dealings  with,  and  revelations 
to  His  people.  An  addition  thereto  was  made  of  so  much  as 
might  be  necessary  to  meet  the  new  circumstances  in  which 
the  Church  then  was,  and  would  be  when  finally  settled  in  the 
promised  land.  The  whole  formed  a  continuation  and  enlarge- 
ment of  the  covenant  of  grace.  In  the  law  given  by  Moses, 
the  constitution  and  order  of  the  Church,  spiritually  and  tem- 
porally considered,  were  definitely  settled,  and  were  to  remain 
without  material  change  until  Christ  should  come. 

For  thirty-eight  years  the  Church  wandered  in  the  wilder- 
ness, until  all  the  unbelieving  generation  over  twenty  years  old 
that  came  out  of  Egypt  perished,  save  Joshua  and  Caleb.  It 
was  forty  years  ere  the  people,  under  Joshua,  Moses'  successor, 
crossed  the  Jordan  ;  and,  after  a  series  of  difficulties,  and  a 


556  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   CHUECH   OF    GOD. 

considerable  lapse  of  time,  took  possession  of  Canaan.  Two 
tribes  and  a  half  tribe  bad  their  inheritance  assigned  them  on 
the  east  of  Jordan. 

Failing  to  administer  the  commonwealth  according  to  the 
written  constitution  in  the  law  of  the  Lord,  (a  successor  to 
Joshua  being  unnecessary,)  and  declining  in  piety,  the  judg- 
ments of  God  fell  upon  His  people,  and  for  four  hundred  and 
thirty  years  they  were  under  the  rule  of  the  judges — an  extra- 
ordinary order  of  men  mercifully  raised  up  for  their  sal- 
vation. 

The  rule  of  the  judges  was  superseded  by  that  of  the  pre- 
dicted kingly  office.  The  prophetical  office  arose  at  the  same 
time,  the  kingly  office  continuing  to  the  captivity,  and  the 
prophetical  to  the  close  of  the  Old  Testament.  Both  were 
extraordinary  offices,  the  one  in  the  state,  the  other  in  the 
Church  ;  the  one,  given  in  wrath  ;  the  other,  in  mercy.  The 
two  offices  were  sometimes  united  in  one  person,  as  in  tbe  in- 
stances of  David  and  Solomon,  but  the  theocratic  forai  of  gov- 
ernment never  changed. 

Only  three  kings  reigned  over  all  Israel :  Saul,  David,  and 
Solomon.  In  the  reign  of  Solomon,  when  the  temporal  glory 
of  the  Church  had  reached  its  height,  the  temple  was  built  in 
Jerusalem — into  which  the  ark  of  God,  after  all  its  wanderings, 
w^as  carried, — and  also  the  tabernacle,  first  pitched  in  the  wil- 
derness, and  afterwards  in  Shiloh  and  other  places.  Jerusalem 
— their  ecclesiastical  and  political  caj)ital — became  the  place 
of  worship  for  the  people  of  God. 

The  kingdom,  in  the  reign  of  Rehoboam,  the  son  of  Solo- 
mon, was  rent  in  twain  ;  Two  tribes  adhering  to  the  throne 
of  David  and  forming  the  kingdom  of  Judah,  and  ten  adhering 
to  Jeroboam  and  forming  the  kingdom  of  Israel. 

The  apostasy  of  Israel  was  almost  entire,  and  the  kingdom 
was  finally  overthrown  for  transgression  and  carried  into  cap- 
tivity by  the  Assyrians.  The  kingdom  of  Judah  survived  one 
hundred  and  thirty-three  years  longer,  and  was  then  also  car- 
ried into  captivity  into  the  same  regions,  and  by  the  same 
power,  under  a  new  dynasty  and  organization.  The  visible 
Church  lay  for  many  long  and  sorrowful  years  embosomed  in 


SUMMAKY.  557 

heathenism.  The  territories  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel  in  part 
were  colonized  by  the  Samaritans ;  those  of  the  kingdom  of 
Judali  never,  for  the  land  was  allowed  to  enjoy  her  sabbatlis. 

The  small  remnant  of  the  people  left  by  Nebuchadnezzai* 
in  Jndea  under  Gedaliah  soon  went  down  into  Egypt,  and,  a 
few  years  after,  those  who  had  collected  in  their  place  from 
surrounding  nations,  whither  they  had  fled,  were  carried  by 
his  commanding  general  into  Babylon,  and  the  land  was  thus 
completely  stripped  of  inhabitants. 

The  Shepherd  of  Israel  forsook  not  His  afflicted  people,  but 
watched  over  and  preserved  them.  "When  the  appointed  years 
of  their  captivity  had  expired.  He  raised  up  His  seiwant  Cyrus, 
who  issued  his  decree  permitting  them  to  return. 

Many  causes  operated  to  prevent  the  return  of  the  people  ; 
nevertheless,  moved  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  they  did  so  at  inter- 
vals by  several  caravans,  and  in  considerable  numbers,  every 
tribe  being  represented,  but  the  representation  being  largest 
from  the  tribes  more  recently  carried  into  captivity,  namely, 
Judah  and  Benjamin.  The  leading  tribe  Judali  gave  name 
ever  after  to  the  people.  The  first  caravan  under  Zerubbabel, 
soon  after  its  arrival,  laid  the  foundations  of  the  second  temple 
amidst  the  tears  and  rejoicings  of  the  people ;  and  although  the 
work  was  retarded,  and  for  a  time  suspended  by  the  violent 
opposition  of  the  Samaritans  and  the  lukewarmness  of  the 
people,  nevertheless  Zerubbabel  lived  to  behold  its  completion 
and  dedication, — the  prophets  Haggai  and  Zechariali  contrib- 
uting largely,  by  their  faithful  ministry,  to  the  success  of  the 
enterprise.  To  this  temple  "  the  Desire  of  all  Nations  "  was 
to  come  personall}'-,  and  the  glory  of  the  latter  house  should  in 
consequence  exceed  the  glory  of  the  former. 

Ezra  the  scribe  succeeded  Zerubbabel  in  the  government 
of  the  province,  reformed  abuses  which  had  crept  into  the 
Church,  and  revived  the  fear  of  the  Lord.  Ezra  was  succeeded 
by  j^ehemiah,  the  cupbearer  of  the  king,  who,  by  his  zeal, 
generosity,  and  prudence,  rebuilt  and  dedicated  the  walls  of 
Jerusalem,  supplied  the  city  with  inhabitants,  and  still  further 
promoted  reforms  among  the  people,  in  all  which  he  was  aided 
by  Malachi,  the  last  of  the  prophets.     Finally,  we  liave  the 


558  THE   niSTOKY   OF  THE   CHUKCH    OF    GOD. 

visible  Church — purged  from  her  dross  of  idol'atry  and  iniquity 
by  the  captivity,  as  well  as  by  subsequent  revivals  and  re- 
forms— once  more  settled  in  the  Holy  Land,  a  goodly  seed ; 
blessed  with  temple,  and  priesthood,  and  all  the  service  of  God, 
with  the  canon  of  the  Old  Testament  completed  and  left  in  her 
hands — a  lamp  unto  her  feet  and  a  light  unto  her  path  ;  look- 
ing for  and  hastening  unto  the  coming  of  her  great  Eedeemer. 
"  The  Lord  is  great  in  Zion,  and  He  is  high  above  all  the 
people."    To  Him  be  glory  forever  and  ever ! 


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thorough  master  of  his  subject,  capable  alike  of  dealing  in  minute  details  without  being 
tedious,  and  of  illustrating  great  principles  without  being  unduly  abstract.  He  never 
(eaves  us  for  a  moment  in  doubt  in  respect  to  his  meaning,  but  throws  every  statement 
into  broad  sunlight.  It  is  certainly  a  remarkable  work,  and  must  bo  the  product  of  a  re- 
markable mind."— Pw''''<a«  Recorder. 

"This  book  is  eminently  scholarlike  and  learned,  full  of  matter,  not  of  crude  materials 
crammed  together  for  the  nonce  by  labor-saving  tricks,  but  of  various  and  well-digested 
knowledge,  the  result  of  systematic  training  and  long-continued  study.  Besides  evidence 
of  solid  learning  which  the  book  contains,  it  bears  impress  of  an  original  and  vigorous 
aiind,  not  only  in  the  clear  and  lively  mode  of  representation,  but  also  in  the  large  ami 
elevated  views  presented,  the  superiority  to  mere  empirical  minuteness,  and  the  constant 
evidence  afforded  that  the  author's  eye  commands,  and  is  accustomed  to  command,  tho 
whole  field  at  a  glance,  as  well  as  to  survey  more  closely  its  minuter  subdivisicjiis.  In 
I)oint  of  style,  and  indeed  of  literary  execution  generally,  there  is  no  Church  History  in 
German  known  to  us,  excepting  that  of  Hase,  that  deserves  to  be  compared  with  that 
before  us." — Princeton  Review. 

"  The  work  bears  upon  it  the  marks  of  true  learning,  and  independent,  vigorous 
thouglit,  from  the  first  page  to  the  last.  It  is  a  model  of  historical  order  and  clearness." 
— Bibliotlieca  Saor/i  and  Am.  Ril/le  Reposiiori/,/jr  Oct.  1S52,  and  for  Jan.,  1S53. 

'•  We  have  now  before  lis  a  volume  of  a  truly  scientific  work  produced  on  our  own  soii 
but  by  a  German  scholar.  It  1  as  this  great  advantage  over  the  richest  works  of  the  kind 
in  Europe,  that  the  author  combines  the  painstaking  accuracy  and  scientific  insight  of 
the  German,  with  the  practical  religious  life  of  the  American  mind." — Methodist  Oncfr- 
terly  Review. 

"  We  predict  for  this  work  great  success,  not  only  in  tliis  country,  which  may  in  some 
degree  claim  it,  but  ia  Europe,  not  excluding  the  Fatherland  of  its  author.  Dr.  SchatI 
presents  to  us  discussions  on  the  numerous  and  momentous  subjects,  of  which  the  out- 
linos  have  been  given,  marked  with  great  ability,  sound  judgment,  elevated  jiiety.  extr^n- 
jiive  research,  and  genuine  Catholicism.  We  thin^:  tL.it  oar  ooaiuioa  CuristNuiity,  in  the 
various  evangelical  forms  in  which  it  is  found,  will  bring  no  charge  of  heresy,  utter  no 
complaint,  and  manifest  no  disappointment.  It  strikes  us  that  it  would  be  exceedingly 
ditiioult  to  write  a  book  of  this  kind,  we  mean  an  honest  book,  as  we  are  satisfied  this  is, 
th.at  would  embrace  so  much  that  all  Christians  regard  as  true,  and  at  the  same  time  so 
little  from  which  there  might  be  dissent.  From  the  first  page  to  the  last  we  admire  the 
soundness,  we  may  say  orthodoxy  of  the  writer.  The  literary  execution  of  this  work  is 
admirable." — Evangelical  Review. 

'•  This  book  is  one  of  the  best  compcndiums  extant,  of  church  history.  It  is  thoroughly 
Christian,  its  arrangement  clear,  its  style  lively  and  attractive,  and  it  contains  notices  of 
..he  most  recent  German  and  other  opinions  on  every  question  as  it  rises." — Edinburgh 
Review,  for  JamiarT/,  1S53. 

"This  is  the  first  learned  theological  work,  in  German,  composed  in  the  United  States, 
ind  undoubtedly  the  best  published  on  that  subject  in  tliat  country.  I  hail  the  work  in 
both  respects  as  the  harbinger  of  a  great  and  glorious  future.  It  is  worthy  of  a  German 
scholar,  of  a  disciple  of  Neander,  (to  whom  the  work  is  dedicated,)  a  citizen  of  tho  United 
States,  and  of  a  believing  and  free  Christian  and  Protestant ;  it  stands  on  German  ground, 
but  it  is  none  tho  less  original  for  that." — Dr.  Riinfien's  Hi/ppobjtuH. 

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